


Plus One

by mrvdocks



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26038612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrvdocks/pseuds/mrvdocks
Summary: Steve Harrington has had an eventful life. He's slain monsters, saved the princess, and earned his dignity back. But that was in the past.It's seven years later, 1994, and he's still finding himself. His friends have been up to other things though, getting married and inviting him to those weddings.It's the last thing he wants to do, but his roommate decides to make him go through all four weddings in hopes of finding the one.And so it begins.
Relationships: Dustin Henderson/Suzie, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Robin Buckley/Kali Prasad, Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 93





	1. Four Weddings

**Author's Note:**

> hiiii!! So this is a love letter to romantic comedies and the fact that I watched three during this pandemic and realized our boy Steve deserves someone while everyone's coupled up. Inspired by Plus One with Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine. seriously go watch it on hulu because I need to talk to someone about it :)) I'll also be leaving songs in the end notes as a playlist type for this fic!

It’s been seven years since the gang has had any incident or warnings or dreams about monsters. Things have died down in Hawkins. So much so that it’s starting to feel normal again, or whatever normal is for everyone else. 

Steve feels like an outsider, though. Everyone he knows is getting married. Nancy and Jonathan, Robin and Kali, Hopper and Joyce, hell even Tommy and Carol tied the knot in Vegas. All of these, weddings he’s been invited to. Except for the latter, they sent him a postcard with a phallic drawing in the back. 

He was used to moping, even if Robin had threatened to make him listen to disco to cheer him up. You thought it was funny though, it showed he had some emotion after all. 

It’s not that he couldn’t continue his womanizing streak. It’s just that after feeling that connection with Nancy, he didn’t want to see different people in the morning. He wanted _the one._

It didn’t help that his parents would call all the time now. Asking him things like if he’d found a girlfriend yet, or a steady job, or be constantly reminded that the clock was ticking. He was painfully aware. 

He’d just come back from his stint as a bartender in some dingy club in lower Manhattan to the somewhat comfortable apartment he shared with you and Robin. Well, that is, until Robin decided to move in with Kali. Robin had taken a liking to you, you weren’t as girly and deluded as the other applicants they were going through and you certainly weren’t as bothersome.

Envelopes and bills spilled on the black mat you’d picked out, warding off visitors or unwanted guests with a foul word written on it. He gathered them, going through them as he opened the door. Nothing but bills and subscriptions.

_What a joy to be an adult._

He let the things fall onto the taped up coffee table on its last legs and collapsed onto the faded green couch.

He heard the pitter-patter of your feet running into the living room. “Oh honey, you’re home.”

He snorted. “Haha, funny.” 

“What? No ‘Hey how’s your day?’ or ‘Good Morning’?”

“Good Morning.” He mumbled face down.

You smirk, settling onto the arm of the couch. “How bad was it?”

“Oh god, so bad.” He lifts his head up, eyes rolling for dramatic effect. 

“I’ve never had to clean vomit before in my life and now I feel so bad for what you have to go through.”

“Ugh, ok there’s a difference between cleaning up after drunk assholes and poorly malnutrition-ed dogs.”

He groans, stuffing his face back down. “My back is killing me.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry Grandpa, do you want me to rub your back or maybe your feet?”

His head lifts up again to narrow his eyes at you. “You’re only four years younger than me, this is your future! But also, yes please.”

You roll your eyes in amusement. “I’m never going to be like this at your age.”

He chortles. “Oh yeah?”

“Mhmm. Unlike you, I have a life. I’m active!”

“I’m not sure sitting with a pack of popcorn and watching sci-fi tv counts as being active.” 

You gasp and rip the pillow from underneath him to hit him with it. “You’re the one who cried when Scully and Mulder -”

“Ahhhhh! No! Shut up!” He plugs his ears with his fingers. 

You erupt with laughter, falling off of the arm and onto the floor. 

You share a fun moment together before he groans again about his back. You think to resolve this with the expensive purchase you’ve been hiding. You rush into your room, if it could even be called that, grab the basin, fill it with water and back into the living room. 

“Here, kick off your shoes.” You kneel down, turning on the machine and placing his feet into the water. 

His tone changes the moment he feels the warmer kick in. He throws his head back in content and comfort. You take his shoes and place them near the doorway. 

“Did you see this?” You ask, the gold of a letter catching your eye. He hums in response.

You use the keys to rip it open, the hard cardstock nearly giving you a paper cut. You’re greeted with a beautiful invitation, all black with gold lettering and cursive writing. 

“You are cordially invited to share in a celebration of the union of Dustin Henderson and Suzie Smith.”

Steve’s eyes fly open as he turns his head to face you. “Let me see that.”

You pass it to him, getting comfortable in the little space and trying to remember where you’ve heard their names before.

Steve chuckles to himself, scanning the whole invite. “He did it. He really did it.”

“Dustin...is he the one you’re always talking about?”

“Yeah,” he smiles to himself, thinking of how much time has passed. “Kind of like the little brother I never had. Wow, I haven’t seen him since he was 15.”

You’ve never seen Steve so happy before. He doesn’t talk much about his life back in Hawkins and neither did Robin. You could only assume it was as boring like your own hometown and thus the reason for their leave. 

“Isn’t this the fourth wedding you’ve been invited to?” 

He sighs. “Yeah but, I don’t even know if I’m going to any of them.”

Your brows furrow. “Why not? You said it yourself this is like your brother.”

He lets the invitation fall onto his lap. “Because - I, I’m not as interesting as they probably think I am.”

“Pfft. So what? You want to entertain some people to spruce their ego or something?” 

“No,” he crosses his arms. “It’s just everyone’s getting married, my cousin just had like his third kid, oh and this guy at the bar was showing me his grandkid and crying like crazy.”

“So? Everyone’s different, things don’t always have to match up. You don’t have anything to prove.”

He squeezes his eyes closed and runs his hand through his hair.

“How about this? We go and we just try and set you up with someone. Doesn’t matter who. It’s four weddings, there’s bound to be some marriage material in there.”

He side smiles, contemplating. “Alright.”

“Good,” you clap. “You need this. Plus there’s something wrong with the plumbing and we have to leave while they fix it.”

He groans. 

* * *

_January 13, 1994_

_Nancy & Jonathan’s Wedding _

_Portland, Maine_

_One Day Before_

The airplane ride wasn’t too bad. Actually no, that was a lie. There was mostly turbulence and you spent most of the four hours freaking out and thinking that there was something going horribly wrong. Steve wouldn’t stop laughing at you though, faking that your seatbelt had come undone too many times. You shut him out by grabbing a blanket and trying to lull yourself to sleep without thinking about how you were suspended in mid-air on a death trap. 

It didn’t work as well as you’d hoped, being able to hear Steve’s poor flirting with the flight attendant. You rolled your eyes, but you had to give him some credit. He was starting early.

Steve shook you awake shortly after the landing, poking at you. “Alright good, you’re in one piece. Can’t afford to claim you as extra baggage.” 

You faked a laugh and pinched him, earning a yelp from him and eyes from other passengers.

One confusing cab ride later, you both had arrived at a pleasant looking hotel. It looked over the ocean, which smelled and felt so incredible. It was cloudy now, the sun hiding away and making the hotel the sole focus of your attention. 

You struggled to get your suitcase up the stairs, eventually giving up and letting Steve carry it while you carried the other bags. 

“Geez, what’s in here, rocks?”

“Hey! I didn’t know what to bring exactly so I brought a little of everything.”

“You look like you packed for two weeks, we’re only going to be here for two days!”

“I work hard to look good, Steve. Which is less than I can say about this number.” You gestured to his wardrobe consisting of a worn henley, frayed at the end of the sleeves, a denim jacket and brown boots you stole from him from time to time. 

He looks up and down. “I think I look good.” 

You ignore him, continuing up the infernal stairs, mentally making a note to join Robin on her retreats. 

You two are trying to catch your breath at the desk when you meet the attendant. 

“Byers wedding.” You huff out. 

When you’re handed the keys, you steer Steve into an elevator, not even bothering to look at the massive set of stairs even if they were decorated beautifully.

“Hurry.” He whispers, dragging the suitcases. 

“I’m trying! You’re the one who packed all these jackets.” 

“It’s cold, do you want us to freeze?”

“No, but we could’ve done with two!”

You both finally arrive to your room confused. 

“Wait, why did she give you only one key?” Steve asks, hand on his hip like a mother.

“I don’t know, you’re the one that booked it.” You shrugged, sticking the keys in and opening the door.

“I clearly said two people in one roo - I see my mistake.” 

A single king bed stares back at you both, tidied up with a towel teddy bear in the middle of it. 

You glance at Steve, meeting his eyes before glancing back to the room. You both stay silent.

“I’ll take the floor.” You both say in unison.

“No, no, you can take the bed. Since you say you always need your beauty sleep.” He gestures to your face.

You snort. “Me? No, Grandpa, I think you need it more than I do. Wouldn’t want you breaking your back at the wedding and outshining the bride.”

He mimics you in a high pitched voice, prompting you to laugh. 

“Listen we can figure it all out once we get everything unpacked, okay?” You wave him off. 

He shrugs. “Fine by me.”

* * *

The tv plays in the background while you brush your teeth. Steve settles in the huge bed, patting down his pillow. 

Once you’re done, you wet your fingers and rush into the room and flick your hand at Steve. You get him right in the face.

“Hey! I’m trying to sleep here.”

“You’re no fun.” 

“Yeah well, we can have as much fun as we want tomor- what’re you doing?”

His train of thought is interrupted by you slipping into the bed. 

“What? You really thought I was going to sleep on the floor?” 

He chuckles nervously. “No.”

It amuses you. “Relax.” 

He slinks back into bed, one arm under his pillow and the other atop his forehead. You grab one of the extra pillows and wrap your arms around it, your right leg climbing on top of it. 

A few minutes pass and the pillow is too uncomfortable and sweaty so you discard it onto the floor somewhere. You huff. 

You glance at Steve who’s snoring lightly.

“Steve.” You whisper. 

Nothing.

“Steve!” You whisper a little louder.

He hums in response. 

“Are you asleep?”

“I was.” He whispers back.

“Can I..hug you?”

That gets his attention. His arm leaves his face, now looking at you through sleepy eyes. 

“What?” 

“Can I hug you? I can’t sleep without the pillow making me sweaty.” 

“Uhh, what about Danny?”

“We broke up. A long time ago.”

His mouth drops into an O shape. 

You shake your head, dismissing the thought. “Nevermind.”

Steve hops onto his elbows, “No! No, it’s okay. Really.”

You turn back, trying to see if he’s serious. When that sorry look is apparent, you nod. 

“How do you - oh okay.”

You get close to his right side, swinging your leg over his waist and wrapping your right arm over his chest. He can smell your shampoo. 

“Cuddling doesn’t have to be sexual by the way.” You murmur into his chest.

He almost asks you to explain that but when he hears your soft snoring, he forgets. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I gotta take control now  
>  But I sold my soul a long time ago  
> I feel like a ghost now_  
> Cherry Flavoured ~ The NBHD


	2. Something New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Nancy and Jonathan's wedding day. Steve's first try to find a lover is unsuccessful.

_January 14, 1994_

_Nancy & Jonathan’s Wedding_

_Portland, Maine_

_The Day Of_

  
The daylight shines on his face when he wakes up. He looks down to see you’ve disappeared and instantly thinks yesterday was a dream. 

“You snore too loud.” You say as a matter of factly, coming out in a robe and towel. 

_It wasn’t a dream._

“You hog the blanket too much.” He retorts, flipping the covers over and getting up to stretch. 

"It's like thirteen degrees outside of course I'm going to take it."

"There's layers to this, you know that right?" 

“Alright, alright Casanova, do you want to stay here sparring with me or go find the love of your life?”

He stretches his arms, then sighs. “Not sure if I’ll meet the one if I’m half-naked.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised.” You wink, going back inside the bathroom to get ready.

Only an hour later and you two were nearly late because he decided to play hideaway with your heels. You didn’t protest as much but they were the only fancy shoe you’d brought to match the nuptial’s dress code. 

You rushed into the elevator, counting down to at least ten minutes. It should be enough time to walk over to the chapel. 

You glance at Steve, seeing him look out of it. 

“Hey,” You tug at his arm. He straightens up. “You okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just been a while.”

_Part of him wondered if they would remember him after so long._

“Well if they’re not talking about you, they’ll be talking about how messy and out of place you look. Here, let me fix you.” You fix his Windsor knot stay in place and then move his floppy hair, letting a single curl of hair rest on his forehead.

“Is this really how you styled it?” You lift yourself on your toes to get more of it but he moves aside.

“Hey, hey, don’t damage the goods.” 

“Is that - hold on, ” You take a whiff of his hair. “Oh my god.”

He rolls his eyes. “Alright, laugh it up.”

“You smell like my mom!” You chortle. 

He pushes you playfully as the elevator doors open and he walks out with you hysterically laughing. He smiles nervously at the passing guests as they file out to the chapel.

“That’s so cute. Listen, if you don’t end up with anyone our age here, you can definitely bag one of the aunts. I’m sure they’d love you.” 

“It was my go-to in high school, alright? Girls loved it.”

He can see the subtle upward quirk of your mouth as you smothered a laugh. 

“C’mon, before we become those people who hog all the attention.” You interlinked your arms and made your way past the field of green and a big brown chapel. 

You both sat in the middle row on Nancy’s side, meeting all of her family and being introduced to her sister Holly, brother Mike and his girlfriend Jane. You couldn’t stop staring as Mike and Jane sat and goofed with each other. 

“Been together since ‘84, and they still can’t get enough of each other,” Steve tells you in a hushed voice as he leans to you and begins giving you the dirt on everyone there.

Jonathan’s mother, Joyce sits at the front with a gruff looking man who kept trying to take out a pack of cigarettes. She’s pretty, and definitely doesn’t look as old as Steve says she is. She has a timeless beauty to her. Steve tells you that the man she’s with is Hopper, the same man whose wedding you would be attending later in March. Jonathan’s brother, Will sits to his mother's left and is in deep conversation with a man Steve doesn’t recognize. 

Steve goes on a tangent on how different and grown-up everyone looks. He goes into details about things they used to do back in Indiana, some things crazy and others unbelievable. He almost sounds sad for not being able to see their growth for himself but that’s not a story he’ll tell you anytime soon.

You’re conversing with Jane when everyone quiets down and music starts playing. You stand and watch as Jonathan marches right up to one step to meet his brother and hug him momentarily. Holly enters, picking petals out of the basket and dropping them as she passes. Nancy enters soon after slowly, keeping tempo with the music. Her dad is older, more filled out, and grey-haired than Steve originally remembers him. Her mother, however, is stunning in a way that doesn’t overshadow her daughter. Her blonde hair is pulled into a half updo, she smiles warmly to guests as she carries the tail of Nancy’s beautiful cream dress. It's an eye-catching tulle gown with floral accents and lace sleeves that move comfortably with her. 

Nancy’s brown hair is long and curls at the end, decorated with a pearl headband, her slender nude manicured fingers holding onto the bouquet gracefully as if she was a princess. She’s naturally gorgeous, with touches of blush on her cheekbones. She takes your breath away. 

You’re almost a little jealous Steve got to date her. 

“Please be seated.” The priest says.

You accidentally sit on Steve’s hand, making him jerk quickly but fast enough to avoid attention. You're locked in the entire time, entranced by every little detail from the soft brown tones of Jonathan's suit to the camera pin he wears to the embroidery on Nancy's heels. 

The ceremony is beautiful, you even catch Steve tearing up at Jonathan’s thoughtfully written vows for Nancy. 

“You may now kiss the bride.” 

The crowd goes wild, cheers and whistles all around as Nancy and Jonathan kiss and he twirls her in a circle. She’s smiling shyly as Jonathan peppers her with kisses. Will steps in and takes a couple of photos before whispering something into Jonathan’s ear and making him laugh. The bride and groom rush outside hand in hand, rice and flowers being thrown as they disappear past the golden-brown of the chapel. 

You and Steve give each other a look, thinking this wedding plan might not be so bad after all. _You’re seeing love in its purest form._

The reception is held in a small banquet hall, music is being played by a band of fine instruments led by people Steve tells you are part of Nancy’s family. The whole place is decorated to bring out the snow and natural elements outside. Windows wide open, the brown of the hall illuminated by fairy lights hanging from above, a cute photo booth with a retro moon to pose with, and a DJ soon after the band leaves. 

“Come,” Steve says, intertwining your hand in his and leading you over to where Nancy and Jonathan are. 

Jonathan notices him first and immediately hugs him. Steve hugs him tighter, letting them sway for a moment while you introduce yourself to Nancy.

“Hi, I’m -”

“You must be the one Steve talks so much! I've heard a lot about you!” She giggles. _My god, even her laugh was beautiful._

“Beautiful wedding! I am in love with you - your dress, I’m sorry.” You say, flustered. Nancy takes no offense and instead envelopes you in a hug. 

“Thank you! It was a lot of stress but I'm glad we could finally get it to come to fruition. Steve never told me you were this lovely.”

You wave her comment away, feeling shyer than ever. “Please, I’m just so glad I finally get to meet THE Nancy Wheeler.” 

“I hope you’re not trying to steal my wife,” Jonathan beams, bear-hugging you. 

"I would never." You grin. “You’re a lucky man, Mr. Byers.” 

“Mr. Byers was my dad, please call me Jonathan.”

You nod, feeling the warmth and love that Jonathan and Nancy were giving off.

"So? How are you two? How's New York?" Nancy asks.

You and Steve glance at each other to see who goes first.

"Good! So good." You say in unison. 

“So what’s going on with you two, huh? Any crazy stories?” Steve asks, eager to get the attention off of him for once. 

“Well,” Nancy looks at Jonathan. “Jonathan was a freelancing photographer for a while but he was just hired for a two-year contract by Life magazine!”

You and Steve look at Jonathan wide-eyed and with jaws dropped. Jonathan smiles shyly.

“Jon, oh my god congratulations!” Steve says, pulling Jonathan into another hug. 

“It was just a split-second decision, he almost didn’t send the photos in time but I convinced him.” Nancy smiles. "They want to send him to Amsterdam next week."

"Europe for the honeymoon? That's amazing." You gush, thinking about the canals and all the great food.

“And that’s not all,” Jonathan rubs at Nancy’s back with his other hand. “Nancy’s accepted a job up in New York as a journalist.”

“No way!” You feel your excitement skyrocket.

“We’re moving into the East Village in March, just after my mom’s wedding.” 

“That’s amazing you guys, I’m so happy for you.” Steve is absolutely over the moon. 

“Thank you and please help yourselves!” Jonathan’s eyes crinkle as he smiles.

“Hope to see you guys soon!” Nancy exclaimed, before being met with more family to greet. You and Steve say goodbye and gush over them.

* * *

“I can’t believe you got to date her.” You remark, sipping more of the champagne.

“Yeah well, I was lucky to even kiss her. Looking back, I think they had it for each other all the time. I was just in the way.”

 _Projecting onto her_ , he thinks.

You frown. “Personally, I’m glad to see it all worked out in the end. To the happy couple!” 

You bring your glasses to toast and snicker when some of it spills onto Steve’s lap. He tries to get you back but you evade him.

The orchestra ends and the DJ begins his set. He starts off with some lovey-dovey tunes you remember your mother playing from her childhood.

“Come on, let’s dance!” You exclaim, taking Steve’s hand and pulling him up and away from the table. 

The dance floor is decently packed, The Del-Viking’s “Come Go With Me” echoing through the walls of the banquet hall.

Steve makes a fool of himself, flailing and dancing exaggeratedly while you move side to side to the _dum dum dum_ , occasionally doubling over when Steve stumbles back into someone. 

The music shifts after you two are completely tired out, changing to The Smiths’ “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”. _Definitely Jonathan’s choice._

You and Steve pair up, dancing slowly with your head on his shoulder.

It’s a nice feeling, to be like this with someone. You didn’t know how you felt about Steve, besides the fact that he could be annoying as all hell and a bummer. But he wasn't so unpleasant to have around. He just needed to let loose. He wasn’t going to be twenty-eight forever. 

Maybe it was too early, you saw how he’d freaked about Danny. 

“Hey, five o’clock.” He whispers in your ear, ripping you away from your thoughts.

“What?”

“What about the girl at five o’clock? She seems nice.” 

“Spin me.” 

He spins you out to see a girl in a nice pastel blue colored dress and bouffant talking to Jonathan. He spun you back in.

“That’s a straight no.”

“What? Why?”

“Come on,” You laugh. “I can hear the sirens coming for you now. She looks like she’s a junior in high school.”

He cocks his brows and shrugs, “You do too and I still live with you.”

You playfully smack him. “That’s different.” 

“Why? Because you can't handle seeing me with someone else?” He says smugly.

“Pfft. She’s got babyface. Just trust me.”

The music shifts throughout the night, some electronic, another alternative, or more classical and then back to lovey-dovey. 

At the end of “Earth Angel,” you’re just about ready to leave and kick off the heels that just won’t quit squeezing your feet. 

“I’m starving.” You whisper into his ear.

“There’s food here.”

“Yes, and I’m still hungry. I need to severely gorge on something big right now.”

Steve chuckles lowly, about to make the joke you feared once the words ‘something big’ left your lips.

“Don’t you dare.” 

“Yes, dear.” He snickers. 

Once you’re away from the view of family and friends, you unbuckle the straps of your heels and breath in relief at your chains being taken off. Steve walks past you but you whistle to him to catch his attention. 

“Well? Come on.” He motions for you. 

You throw your head back and whine. “I can’t walk. These things have worn me down.” 

He chuckles to himself shaking his head. “Alright, hop on.” 

He turns and bends to your level, letting you climb onto his back like a monkey. You wrap your arms around his neck, him holding you up by your thighs. 

You nestle comfortably into his shoulder, letting out an audible sigh. 

“Don’t get too comfortable up there, you have the keys to the room.” He warns, but you’re fast asleep by the end of the sentence. "So much for being hungry."

He gets soft looks and compliments of ‘being a great boyfriend’ from different guests but he doesn’t have the energy to correct them. The dancing tired him out. 

He uses the pointy end of your heel to click the elevator button and is careful with you when entering. Your soft sighs and deep breaths comfort him in some way. Your fingers twitch around his now loosened tie, softly scratching at the nape of his neck. It gives him goosebumps, but he relaxes into it, letting the warmth creep up to his cheeks.

He’s too lost in the feeling to notice when the doors open, the elevator dings to alert him. When he’s out, he shakes you slowly to wake you up. You stir and hum but stay asleep. He maneuvers your bag to face him, getting the key painfully slow. The door hinges creaking don’t wake you at all. 

He lays you down onto the side where he sleeps, careful with your shoes and your bag. Putting them aside, he makes a move to close the door but your hand grabs at his wrist and pulls him back. 

He glances down at you, still asleep but still holding on. “I have to close the door.” He whispers.

“Steve.” You murmur. 

“Yeah?” He brings himself to ask, entranced by you. 

You mumble incoherently, letting go of his wrist and turning your side to get comfortable.

He sighs. 

* * *

"It was a nice wedding." He says, getting the suitcases out of the cab while you tip the driver. 

"It really was. Plus I'm glad I got to take one of these suckers home too." You dig through your bag, pulling out the towel teddy bear that had previously been on your hotel bed. It looked a little deformed now but you could fix it.

Steve makes a surprised noise, "We steal things now?"

"It's not stealing if they were just going to put another one back." 

"Well, I wish could've taken some of that shampoo. It made my hair smell great." 

"Oh don't worry I got a couple of them in my suitcase. You can have them."

He looks at you with intrigue. 

"What? We can't live fancy?"

He shakes his head, his shoulders shaking as you head into the apartments.

"Hey, sorry I ruined your shot looking for someone at the reception."

He shrugs, feeling it wasn't a big deal. "That's why we have the other three, right? Plus, I had fun. I wouldn't have wanted to be in my head the entire time." 

The answer satisfies you but you promise yourself to aim higher at the next wedding. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _You are stuck with me  
>  So I guess I'll be sticking with  
> You are stuck with me  
> So I guess I'll be sticking with you_  
> Stuck With Me ~ The NBHD


	3. Something Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Joyce and Hopper's wedding. Steve has high hopes of succeeding this time.

It’s a Wednesday in February when he returns home and plops down onto the couch. The bar shifts just seemed to get worse. In the span of three minutes, he had to break up a fight, have the bouncer kick out a guy for harassing his manager, and clean a spill a drunk party group had made.

 _I’m not paid nearly enough for this_ , he thinks.

A sneeze breaks him from his misery. 

“Bless you.” He says with his eyes closed. They shoot open when he realizes you don’t sneeze like that. 

He sits up and looks at the moving thing under the pillow. His heart races as he hears some kind of breathing. 

_Please no_ , he thinks. _We just took care of the plumbing_. 

He lifts the pillow carefully, expecting to see a pile of rats or mice or worse. Instead, he’s greeted by a sneezing dog. 

It’s a Scottish Terrier with big eyes that just seem to interrogate him as to why he interrupted his sneezefest. 

“Uhhhhh, where’d you come from?” He scans the apartment, seeing a dog bed at the corner of the lazy boy across from him. 

This had to be the work of one person only.

Steve calls out for you, hearing you run out from the bathroom in a hurry and a towel haphazardly wrapped around you. 

“What’s the emergency? Oh, I see you’ve met Mickey.” 

He’s speechless looking at you like you’re out of your mind. “Mickey?”

“Yeah, they brought him in today and I felt really bad that they were taking him to the choky tomorrow. Plus, who can say no to his little eyes?” You singsong the latter half of that sentence in a baby voice, kneeling to ruffle your fingers through Mickey’s fur.

“What if Tony finds out we have a dog? What do we say? We can’t keep him.”

You roll your eyes. “Relax, he’s quiet when he eats the jerky from Tom’s.”

“That’s my jerky!” Steve whines.

“Okay! I’ll get you extra then. Don’t be such a sourpuss.” 

Steve glances back to Mickey still staring at him. He puts out a cautious hand, Mickey getting close enough to sniff and then lick. 

At least it was nice to have another man in the house. 

He runs his hands through Mickey’s surprisingly soft coat, earning a low whimper from the pooch. Mickey lies on his side, clearly loving the scratches Steve is giving him. Steve catches himself smiling, suddenly forgetting the looming threat of eviction for a moment.

He’s wanted a dog since he was six, but his dad would never let him keep one. Not even a goldfish. He thinks maybe if he’d had a dog, he wouldn’t have turned out so cold in his teens. He just wanted to love something and have it love him back.

“Hmm, maybe you’re not so bad.” 

Mickey responds by kicking his tiny paws in the air, writhing on the couch.

Steve is so bewitched by the creature he doesn’t even notice when you come back into the room. 

“So, anything from that Sissy girl you were seeing?”

“No,” he pouts, “I mean I think she was scared off by this.” He gestures to himself.

“Oh my god, you’re doing it again.”

“Doing what? I just felt like there wasn’t any long term potential there.”

“You guys went on one date, and you didn’t even kiss! You blue balled her!”

“Okay first of all, who takes their date to their family member’s birthday party and expects a whole relationship to blossom from there? And second, when you’ve been single as long as I have, you just know what you want and what to expect.”

You snicker. “But you don’t know what you want, you have like, the worst standards.”

“Uh, I like to think they’re realistic.”

“Oh yeah? Well, I don’t think it’s fair everyone has to compare to Phoebe Cates.”

“Phoebe was a great product of her time, thank you very much. And, I mean what about Tessa Grey?”

“Tessa Gr - my co-worker?”

Steve nods adamantly. “I would date her. You know if she wasn’t - engaged.” 

“Alright we have to unpack that sometime but first why do you always say their names like some sort of serial killer?”

“Because,” he thinks, “they’re firsty-lastys. The same way I’m Steve....” 

“Oh please don’t say it.” You cover Mickey’s ears. 

“Steve “The Hair” Harrington!” 

You groan in response, bringing Mickey to rest on your chest while you put your feet up on Steve’s lap. 

“Sounds like someone’s jealous.” He mimics. 

“Oh, please. Okay, okay, let’s say for the sake of this being hypothetical, Tessa breaks off her engagement and she shows up here and says, ‘Oh my god, Steve Harrington I would love to have your babies, let’s get married! You can meet my family and eat my famous pasta, wahhhh!’” You flail your hands around for effect, seeing the amusement in his face.

His face screws up, “Jesus, am I dating Wario now?” 

“That is _exactly_ how she sounds! Plus! You would find something wrong with her and then you’d bail.”

“ _That_ is not true.”

“Oh but it is! It’s so true. In fact, anyone as grotesquely tall and hair-obsessed as you cannot be so picky.”

“I’m just trying to make sure I find the -”

“Don’t say it.”

“The one.” 

You groan, shoving your face into Mickey’s chest. 

“Oh yeah? I don’t see you bringing anyone home. Still not over Danny?”

Your mouth forms an O, kicking his thigh with the heel of your foot. 

“For your information, I have been seeing someone.”

This piques his interest. “Who and is he an escaped convict?”

“Okay,” you scoff, rolling your eyes. “I haven’t talked to him but he left his number at the desk so who knows?”

“Hmm, I may be wrong, but I don’t think that was meant for you. You are a receptionist after all.”

“We’ll just have to see, won’t we? But I just have some stuff to take care of beforehand.”

He nods.

“Personal…..maintenance.” 

“Yup.” 

“Gotta mow the lawn.” You emphasize.

“No yeah, I got you the first time. But come on, let’s be honest here. You’re stalling.”

“For what?” 

“Jumping into the unknown. Danny was a huge part of your life so I get what it’s like to lose that connection.”

You laugh sarcastically. “Okay, grandpa are these your words of wisdom? I am totally over Danny. At this point, I can say screw Danny! I have all the time in the world to find someone else!"

You weren’t completely wrong. Danny had been with you since senior year of high school. You thought it would be like one of those fairy tales where the high school sweethearts end up living together in an amazing house surrounded by all these treasures and all that jazz. Nothing could tear you down.

And then junior year of college came and he slept with one of your college friends. You transferred soon after. It was your first relationship, and you just felt like a failure. 

You don’t view California so great anymore, instead choosing to uproot yourself and finding the first place you could in New York for cheap.

 _It worked out fine_ , you think. It led you to Steve and Robin. 

Even though you clowned him for it, you also wanted that special connection. Love that movies taught you but you’d learned the hard way they weren’t going to translate into real life the same way. 

“Uh-huh. I mean there’s no shame in it, I was the same way with Nancy.”

“I wasn’t moping around and wallowing in self-pity like you, though.”

“C’mon what was that whole period of just 'Danny!'” He mimics your voice crying and eating out of an invisible tub of ice cream. 

You feign being offended, chucking the couch pillow to him as he catches it and smothers himself with it. 

“Your dad’s crazy. Yes, he is.” You pout to Mickey. 

* * *

_Joyce & Jim’s Wedding _

_Chincoteague, Virginia_

_March 1-3, 1994_

“I remember during ‘84, Chief Hopper had a special visitor waiting for him in his office to talk to him about the disappearance of her boy. At the time she was just the town’s nut, but I bet no one would guess the wild ride these two would go on to end up here.” The man who Steve tells you was one of Hopper’s officers back home, toasts.

It sat poorly with the guests, including a somewhat already even more pissed off looking Hopper. He seems to get the idea and ends his toast blessing the couple in their late forties. 

Jonathan goes up next, greeting the crowd. He’s dressed impeccably, his hair somewhat slicked back and his ring very prominent when the light catches it.

“I would like to thank everyone who came out to help us celebrate. I’m very proud of my mom and at first, I was a little wary about her settling down with someone. Not because I was moody about it but because she’s done so well on her own taking care of me and my siblings. She’s always been both parents to me but Jim,” Jonathan raises his glass.

“I want to thank you for helping us years ago, for believing in us. For being patient with us and sticking with us through thick and thin. My mom lights up every day like a Christmas tree and I think that’s evidence enough for me to happily welcome you into the family. To my mom and Jim!”

“To Joyce and Jim!” The crowd toasts. 

The wedding was held in a gazebo near the beach on the East Coast, with Joyce getting married in a white tea-length dress with lacing decorating her collar down to her arms and Jim in a grey suit decorated with one of Joyce’s favorite flowers in his pocket. They’d both changed for the reception, Joyce into a red sheath dress and Jim into a black dress shirt and pants and a blazer matching Joyce’s dress. 

You were seated with Jonathan and Nancy and another pair of family friends, talking and catching up with the other nuptials. They both told you the craziest stories about Steve from high school to when they last saw him, all the while he sat mere inches from you and hid behind his hand when something particularly embarrassing came up. 

You’d often erupt in fruity laughter, hearing about the time Steve got his Scoops Ahoy uniform stuck in the fridge or when he’d played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time only to lose every time. 

“So, how long has this been going on?” Nancy queries, gesturing to you and Steve.

You glance at Steve, lost for words for a moment. “We’re just friends.”

“Yeah, friends,” Steve adds right after you.

“I’ve been rooming with him for the past two years since Robin left.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she concedes. “I always hear you call him Honey over the phone sometimes.”

Your eyes widen. _Curse your sarcastic nature._

“Oh no, god no,” You laugh nervously. “I just like to mess with him.”

You drown yourself out with the drink in front of you, leaving Steve to pick up the rest of the conversation.

“We got a dog.” Steve blurts out, trying to fill in for the painfully embarrassing silence.

Jonathan raises his brows, “Really?” 

“Yeah, only instead of being the dad of the group back then, I’m a dog dad now.” He reveals.

Nancy and Jonathan laugh, almost as if to help ease both of you back into not being awkward. 

“Hey, you guys heard Dustin’s getting married right?” Nancy pouts with her bottom lip drawn out. “He’s so old now.” 

“Yeah, Steve loves the little guy.” You blurt. Steve glances at you.

“Last I heard he was starting up some fund for kids with CCD in California,” Jonathan alleges.

“Oh yeah,” Nancy remembers. “The Palm Springs wedding.” 

The music begins playing for the guests and Nancy jumps, exclaiming that she loves this song and asks Jonathan to dance with her. They turn to you and Steve and urge you onto the dance floor, but you say you’ll be there in a second.

“What was that?” He whispers in a shrill tone.

“I panicked!” 

“They probably think we’re idiots now.” 

You cock your head down and glare at him. “These are your friends, Steve. They would never think that. It’s just been a while since you’ve all seen each other they probably understand.”

Steve bounces his leg in response. You put your hand on his thigh, stopping him. 

“Look, we are gonna go out onto that dance floor and we are going to find you the best damn lover you’ll ever have.”

He nods rapidly, hooked onto your every word. 

You lead him in when a couple leaves, guiding his hand to rest on your lower back and rest your left hand on the lapel of his suit. Your right-hand holds out for his, swaying until you can match the tempo of the music. 

“Okay, what about violet in glasses?” You suggest, feeling him turn you to catch a glimpse.

“Too bookish.” 

“What’s wrong with bookish?”

“I already have you, don’t I?”

You roll your eyes. “Alright, what about red with the pony?” 

“Where?” 

“Behind you, rotate.”

He rotates you to the left and makes a face. “Too mean.”

“What? She seems nice.”

“The red makes her seem aggressive.”

You sigh. “Okay, pink with the braid?”

He glances quickly to his right, “Yeah she’s cute.”

“I’ll go and spill my champagne on her and then you just swoop in and dry her off.” 

“Is there any way you can do this without assaulting someone?”

“It’s not assault, I’m just very hands-on with this.”

“That sounds like it’s textbook definition.”

“When have you picked up a textbook? Nevermind, you want to try this or not? I haven’t failed you yet.” 

He purses his lips, thinking back to the first wedding. 

“Don’t. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

As the song ends you retreat to your table, grab your glass, and start sipping. Steve stays behind, watching you fake stumble and fall against the woman and drench her with the drink. She gasps as the cold beverage hits her, and Steve pulls out one of the fancy napkins from the table.

“Showtime.”

* * *

"You think she hates me now?" You say, drawing circles in the sand with your feet.

"You mean because a drunken guest dumped their drink on an expensive dress she was planning on returning?" 

You stare at him, unamused. 

"I appreciate the try. She just seemed....too hostile."

"I get it, I mean a guy like you coming up to me and trying to pat my breasts down - I would want to leave too." You chuckle to yourself.

Steve stands, smacking off the sand on his pants. He takes hold of your shoulders and leans you close to the waves as they crash against your ankle.

"Oh my god, Steve! You know I can't swim."

Steve is laughing like crazy, teasing you. He takes hold of your waist in a second, carrying you as far into the ocean as he can while you're shrieking. 

He twirls you as you grip his hands tight, digging your nails into his skin and still screaming to be put down.

"Be careful what you wish for." He says into your ear and drops you on your ass. The overwhelming cold and seaweed cover your body as you try to stand only to be wiped out by a wave. 

"Oh my god, I'm gonna kill you!" You don't sound too threatening, if anything your wet appearance was akin to that of a wet kitten just meowing in protest. 

Steve runs and dodges you, moving in a zig-zag pattern as you try your best to chase him through the water.

"You'll never catch me!" He fronts. 

Anticipating him to move in a pattern, you wait till he moves to the left to start running to the right and knock him down against the sand with a _hmph_!

"Gotcha!" You exclaim, putting your hands on his chest and completely unaware of the position you're in. 

You're straddling him, legs on both sides and your face is inches away from his trying to catch your breath. He smells like salt and champagne.

He's frozen in place too, one of his hands firmly on your lower back. 

Your eyes flicker from his to the rest of his face, focusing on the moles decorating his neck. He can smell your perfume still even through the saltwater. It inundates his senses, disorienting him momentarily. Your necklace dangles and touches his chin, taunting him. 

This is the moment you've been looking for, the one that the movies oh so love to display over and over again. Something in you tells you to do it, to just lean down and see if he tastes like you do. 

Instead, he pushes you to the side softly, catching his breath and patting your thigh. "I guess you got me."

You nod, taking your dress by the ends of it to walk back onto dry land and leave him sitting there. You'd see him back at the hotel anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _You'll find me on my tallest tiptoes  
>  Spinning in my highest heels, love  
> Shining just for you_  
> mirrorball ~ TS


	4. Blossom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can't be falling for Steve, right?

You’re in the bathroom trying not to freak out or let it show just how much your mind was reeling from earlier. It couldn’t be happening, right? There’s no way you were falling for Steve Harrington. 

_ No, no way. He was so different from you.  _

_ But opposites attract right?  _

You grimaced, thinking back to the way his eyes flickered from your eyes to your lips. The way he too seemed unsure of going for it.

This would change your entire dynamic. _Were you even ready to open up to someone else?_

Steve knew you, sure, but just the things at surface level. Things you wanted him to know. You were afraid to even tell him about everything else back home, thinking maybe he would freak at the first sight of a parent gushing over how perfect he seemed. 

If there’s anything a person never is, it’s perfect. 

In many ways, Steve just didn’t seem like an ideal candidate. He never put his things away, snores too loudly, had the romantic personality of a ninth-grader, was obsessed with his hair way more than you were, and he looked for superficial things. 

He knew it too deep down, it was better to ignore the flaws for the love we think we deserved instead of feeling contrite when the ugly truth was out there.

That’s where you differed. You needed honesty, it was the only way to live.

_ Knock _ . 

“Hey, you okay?” Steve’s voice echoed from behind the door. 

You squeezed your eyes shut. He just had to be here right now, didn’t he?

You think of something gross enough to keep him on the other side.

“I think the food’s not agreeing with me right now.” 

“Oh okay, do you need anything?”  _ Damn it, leave! _

“No! I mean - no. It’s alright. I’ll be right out.” 

You count down from ten, trying to ease your anxious nerves. You take deep breaths and exhale once you get to the primary numbers. At one, you stand straight and march out of the bathroom as if nothing happened. Steve sits on the edge of the bed in his dress shirt now, his blazer discarded onto the chair next to him. 

He’s watching the tv blankly, a rerun of a show you both had seen back home fills out the room. You grab your night clothes and return to the bathroom, changing as fast as you can to slide into bed and call it a night. When you return, Steve’s still where he was before, only now fidgeting with the cuff links on his wrist.

You should be paid for how much you’re able to get out of him. 

“Are you okay? You look like you’re about to cry or something.”

“My dad’s getting married.”

It takes you by surprise. Steve’s never talked about his dad before, not even to Robin.

“Oh,” You say simply. “Like renewing his vows or something?” 

He shakes his head. 

“My mom moved away a while ago. My dad, he uh…..met this woman half his age after her. She’s got kids from another marriage.” He flicks the cuff link. 

“Before I moved to New York with Robin, I would just see and hear them all the time at home. He was nicer to them, do things with them that I had to beg him to do with me when I was a kid.”

You sit next to him, bringing your hand to rest atop his own. 

“The night before I left, I just told him off. I told him it wasn’t fair that he got to start over with another family just because he messed ours up. He called me before we got here saying he wanted me to be his best man.”

He falls silent, his lip quivers but he purses his lips into a straight line to keep himself from letting it out. You can’t say much that will help him, but you understand his disdain and avoidance of weddings thus far.

“What’d you tell him?”

He shrugs. “I told him I’d think about it. He expects an answer when we go home.”

“Well, at least he’s happy.” You sigh.

“Yeah, for now. And then it’s onto the next one.”

You don’t want to do it, but since you’re just letting the skeletons out of the closet, you might as well. 

“You know my parents are still together?” you start. “My mom’s always been this, overbearing cross that my dad carries around. She yells at him all the time but I think he’s checked out already. They didn’t want to divorce because they thought it would damn them or mess me up. But I think it did anyway.”

Steve’s entranced by you, you were opening up. 

“They’ve stuck it out since they had me. And it’s just sad now. I think about them sometimes, just sitting in that house, eating their dinner and sleeping together, not saying a word to each other.”

Steve opens his mouth like he’s about to apologize for even bringing the parent topic up.

“Sure your parents split up, but at least they’re not miserable. I can tell you from experience you would’ve liked that a lot less.” You conclude, removing your hand from his and leaving to go to bed. 

It’s been a weird night.

Steve stops you though, his fingers snaking onto your wrist. You turn back, thinking he’s going to talk more about his family or dive deeper into some other trauma. Imagine your surprise when he stands and bends to your level to pull you into his arms, bringing you in tight and firm. You’re taken aback, arms flying up but eventually settling on his broad back. Your fingers clutch his shirt in fistfuls, taking in the smell of him. 

“Hey, Steve?”

He hums.

“I’m totally reading your boner right now.”

“And the moment’s over.” He says, pulling away. You almost frown at the loss of his body pressing against yours. 

“I’m kidding!” You huff, pushing him back onto the bed. 

You settle in after he changes, pulling the covers up to your chest and putting your arms above them in thought. Steve sees you staring at the ceiling.

“Have you gone catatonic on me?”

“No, it’s just….this is the most I’ve gotten out of you in two years.”

“You’ve _known_ me for two years.” He crawls in, getting comfortable. 

“Yeah but, you know, are these really things you’ve told Robin before?”

“Not really.”

“Why not?”

“She never asked.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t that. While Robin felt comfortable revealing the truth about herself that Fourth of July, Steve had learned to keep things to himself. It’s how he was raised. But you and Robin changed that, especially with the way you tended to overshare things sometimes. 

You turn onto your side, facing him. He’s thinking about something, and he looks so magnificent doing it. The way his hair rests on his forehead, the way his fingers curl around the blanket... 

_Oh no. Is this how it starts? Admiring him? Craving his touch like earlier? Wanting his attention fully on you and not all these other women?_ It was so juvenile, feeling like this was your first love again. The strong feeling hitting you just like the waves did earlier.

It was no secret you were touch starved, but there was something in the way his touch relaxed you. It made you think sometimes. Whatever this feeling was, it was different from what you felt with Danny. You jumped the shark with him, you didn’t really know him. 

But with Steve, you were starting to. He was bare bones with you. 

“Goodnight.” He whispers, turning the bedside lamp off.

“Goodnight.” 

* * *

“Are you telling me you don’t know how to ride a bike?” You ask Steve, watching him shift uncomfortably and unevenly on the beach cruiser.

It was your last day being in Virginia, and you didn’t want to sit in the hotel and gorge on food until you passed out. That’s what home was reserved for. 

Joyce had spoken of how lovely the horses and horseback riding was here, but that was closed so you settled for the next best thing. Riding bikes at the beach.

“No I - I do know, I’m just saying this is a hard seat.” 

He’s been adamant about this for five minutes now. Every now and then a girl will pass by and he’ll try to sit, only to fall on his side. You’ve taken so many snaps of this, each time bellowing with ridiculous laughter.

“When we go home I’m developing this and hanging it on the fridge.”

“Erase this footage!” He gestures to the camera, losing balance again.

“Make me, Harrington!” You can’t help but shoot back.

Passerbys found it funny the way you two were bickering. Even more so when you lent over to show Steve how to keep his arms and legs on the bike, him reassuring you he knew where everything went.

“I can do it.” 

“Okay, let’s see then.” You cross your arms and stand aside waiting. 

He mutters to himself and puts both his feet on the pedals, not falling to either side this time. He grips the handlebars and pedals forward, passing you with an excitement lighting up his face that a child would have when they were first learning. 

He can’t manage the turn and falters, sticking a foot and hand out to cushion his fall. You catch up to him, ready to help but he lays down onto the grass and accepts his failure. 

“Come on, you’ll get the hang of it. You just need more practice.” 

You hold out your hand, waiting for him to take it. 

“I know this keeps you healthy, but at what cost?” He grabs on, using you to balance him when he gets to his feet again. He’s too tall and heavy for you, prompting you to waver slightly and hold onto him. 

You pull away when you realize your hands rested on his chest, his other arm holding onto your lower back. He scratches the back of his head nervously uttering an apology.

Feeling the blush creep to your cheeks, you return to your ride, mounting and waiting for him to do the same. 

“Try to catch up.” You smirk, racing off down the hill and squealing. 

“What are you, Evel Knievel?!” He yells after you, wobbling and gritting his teeth as he follows after you. 

You have the upper hand on him the entire time, often hiding behind shops and emerging from behind him when he thinks he’s faster. You ride until the sun sets, enjoying the breeze and the little bit of sun before stopping at an ice cream shop. Steve thinks he’s something of an ice cream connoisseur when you look at flavors. You two end up fighting on flavors before settling on two different ones and eating outside in a garden the shop owner called a hidden gem.

“No way, cookies ‘n cream is the best one.” He remarks, finishing off the cone. 

“Mint chocolate is actually superior and I won’t hear another word about it.” You took your time, enjoying the sensation your mouth was on. 

He shakes his head. “It’s basically gum! It’s disgusting!” 

“But it tastes so good!” You take another bite teeth first and moan in delight. 

He groans in disgust but nonetheless is amused when you try to get him to eat a bit of it. He avoids your hand, moving his head out of the way every time it’s shoved in his face. You wait, plotting. 

“You have some on your lip.” You say, pointing toward his top lip. He licks at it, tasting nothing.

“There’s noth -”

He’s muffled by a mouthful mint chocolate. You can’t help it when the corners of your lips lift into a smug smirk. 

“Funny, huh?” He says, wiping it off with his hand. 

He takes the rest of the cone and dips his fingertips in it, turning his attention to painting your cheeks and lips with as much as he can. You recoil and gasp as the cold sensation, trying to get it off but he keeps attacking. 

“Okay! Okay! Truce!” You wave a figurative white flag. He stops, proud of his work, and tops it off by rustling your hair. 

“I’m so gonna get you,” You promise, wiping at your cheeks and going to get him with the residue when you turn to face him and find your faces are closer than ever. 

You fall silent, the trouble maker in you declining to come back for an encore. 

“What, no smartass remark this time?” He teases. 

As cliche as it might sound, you’re lost in his smugness. His smile falters, his brows furrowing as he realizes what he’s doing, the gap between your faces closing. You close your eyes first, testing the waters and pressing your lips against his softly. He pauses for a moment, suddenly aware of the gravity of what you were doing, bringing his hand up for your cheek to rest on. His eyes flutter shut soon after, diving into your lips and tasting the mixture of sweets. 

He kisses you feverishly and desperately, sighing as he relaxes into you. Your fingers tug at his hair and the back collar of his shirt. He leads you down onto the grass, flowers decorate your head in a red halo. He settles in between your legs and holds himself up by his forearms, his fingers entangling themselves in your hair as he cocks his head to the side to get more of you.

It’s been a while but both of you are antsy and eager. You kick off your shoes and immediately make quick work of his belted pants. He catches your drift and helps you with your skirt, pulling the long pleated material up to snag both ends of your panties. 

“Ow.” 

“Sorry.” He whispers.

“No, it’s okay, just - here,” You grunt as you try to help him from where you’re laying, lifting your hips up to let the fabric slide off. The cool air of the night makes you shiver. 

Steve peppers you with kisses as you reach for the belt and unbuckle it. Hearing it come undone makes you even more aroused. 

“Hold on.” He says in a breathy voice, reaching between your bodies and lining himself in. You tease him by wrapping a leg around his torso and pushing him in slowly with the heel of your foot against his butt.

The feeling overwhelms him, letting out a sharp exhale. He glances back to your smug face and glares at you momentarily. 

You move in sync, your hand grasping onto his broad shoulders and the other on his bicep to keep the pace. He grunts into your shoulder, lost in the lust. His hand comes to rest under your head to support it while also gripping it with each thrust he bucked into you. 

Each thrust was different, pleasurable, and enticing. It fulfilled the need for him you had that night at the beach. You catch yourself smiling, knowing none of the bridesmaids or guests he tried flirting with got this far. Not even Sissy.

He hits a spot in you that rouses you out of your thoughts and leaves you mewling wantonly. You know he won’t last, not at the rate his thrusts are going. He’s crying out, bucking against you in fervor, gripping your hair harder, and groaning louder into your neck. You made him this way. 

Ever since the first wedding, seeing you out of your element made him reconsider some things. Sure if he’d gotten a girlfriend out of this, it would be good for him. But something about you made him feel the way he thought he felt for Nancy. 

He felt seventeen all over again, giddy and in love and a little horny. He just didn’t know if you felt the same. But after the beach incident and the way you took the lead first, all doubts went away.

Thinking about you, he slides his thumb into his mouth and lubricates it, snaking it down to the neglected pearl in between your legs. Your eyes shut in ecstasy at the added sensation, your back arching into him. You feel your legs shake and your feet writhe against his ass trying to amplify the feeling. His heavy breaths, needy kisses, and raunchy whispers in your ear are absolute heaven to you. 

You come before him, muffling your lewd moans into his shoulder and milking him for everything he’s got. He comes with a final sloppy thrust and collapses onto you, knocking the wind out of you and leaving you catching your breath.

He pants, breath hot and heavy against your collarbone. Your legs unwrap from their previous position, now shaky and limp. 

Once you two catch your breath after about a minute or two, Steve lifts his head to rest his forehead against yours. You both chuckle, finally acknowledging the broken tension.

Steve kisses you again, this time without fear or doubt. Just pure adoration. 

You don’t really feel yourself fall asleep, neither does he. But you’re definitely mortified in the morning when you hear voices that wake you up with a start.

“Cooter’s out.” The old gardener points out.

The statement wakes you up, and when you realize you just flashed your privates you stand up quickly and shake Steve awake. He groans, but opens his eyes, his smile dropping once he notices the man in front of you two. 

“Cooter’s out.” The old man repeats.

You pull the skirt all the way down and grab your shoes quickly while Steve tucks himself back in and apologizes profusely. You grab his hand and race out of the garden, red as a tomato and grab the bikes to go back to the hotel. 

The car ride to the airport is quiet. You thank yourself for bringing something to read to avoid mentioning the embarrassing aftermath. Steve didn’t bring anything to distract him like you did, but he glances at you every so often. When your eyes meet, you both turn away quickly. But the smile on both your faces betrays you both. 

Steve doesn’t even bother flirting with the flight attendant this time, his eyes are completely on you. It feels odd. You can’t even find a smart-ass thing to say, it’s like you’re short-circuiting. You didn’t know what he was thinking, but if the constant staring and easy smiles and looks of adoration he gave you were any indications, he was whipped.

You sigh in relief as you plop onto the couch, letting all your things fall after Steve gets in. He takes the initiative to break the ice when he collapses onto your chest. 

You’re winded again. “Whoa, someone ate too much shrimp at the wedding.”

Steve suppresses a chuckle, taking you in. You had some type of glow he’d never noticed before.

“So…” He begins.

“So…”

“About last night,” he starts but you cut him off.

“We don’t need to talk about it, you know if you don’t want to.” 

“I do.” He murmurs into your chest. He hugs your body, his head resting on your chest the same way Mickey would do it. 

Damn it, you actually liked this. 

“Great sex.” You blurt, shutting your eyes in disbelief at how awkward he suddenly made you.

His dimples peeked out as he felt himself chuckling. “Yeah, great sex.”

“I’m sorry,” you jittered. “I’m never usually like this.”

“Oh, I know. But it’s okay. I had fun.” 

You haven’t felt this excited for something to potentially happen since you met Danny. But even now you were hopeful.

“Steve?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want me to go with you to your dad’s wedding?”

He must’ve remembered he had to answer that best man question because he’s silent. 

_How bad can it be?_ He thinks. _Now that I have you._

“Yes please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _You're a sight for sore eyes  
>  Don't know why I hesitate and I can fall apart  
> Tell me that your love is a sure thing_  
> Hesitate ~ G.V.


	5. Something Borrowed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve makes a call he doesn't want to make and Dustin finally gets married.

He calls his father the following week, a bundle of nerves, clutching the phone and listening to the wait tones. 

_I can’t do this._ He thinks. _It’s been too long. What if he doesn’t even recognize my voice?_

On the fourth trill, he’s about to hang up until someone on the other end picks up.

“Hello?”

It’s a female voice he hasn’t heard in a while, it’s warm and soft and inviting. He can’t bring himself to say anything. His foot bounces against the worn wood of the studio. 

“Hello?” The voice repeats and he grimaces, letting go of his pride.

“Is Don uh, is he there?”

“Steve?” The voice identifies him, then chuckles warmly. “Sure, let me get him.”

The phone goes silent before he hears the cradle of it being picked up. 

“Steve? Mary told me it was you.” There it is. That old gruff voice. The voice of God from his childhood.

“Hey Dad,” he settles his gaze onto his bouncing foot, “Just returning the call from last time.”

“Oh good, Mary wanted to know if we should pick you up at the airport or if you’d make the drive. Maybe we could set you up in your old room.”

“You still have my old room?” He’s a bit confused. He would’ve thought his dad converted it into some playroom for the kids or a knitting room for Mary.

“Well, I always figured you’d come back.” 

He really must’ve forgotten how bad that night was, at least for Steve anyway.

“Dad, I kinda live with someone now.”

“Really?” He chimes, suddenly chipper and definitely interested. 

Bad move, now he’s going to take much longer on this call than usual.

Steve sighs. “Yeah, she…..she’s amazing. She’s funny and kind and she puts up with an idiot like me.”

Then his dad does something he’s never heard him do since he left. He laughs. 

“Well, is she coming with you? How long have you two been living together? I’m sure your mother would like to meet her.”

“You invited Mom to the wedding?” His brows furrow.

“She was hesitant, at first. But she’s made her peace with it. She would like to see you again, you know?” 

As much as he missed his mother, he wouldn’t know how to juggle past emotions bubbling back up. 

“That’s good.” He says, simply. He scratches at the torn wallpaper next to him.

“How’s New York?” His father inquires, trying to get something out of Steve. Anything.

Steve shrugs then pauses, remembering his father can’t see him.

“It’s good. Robin’s getting married. I think I’m with someone.”

“You think? You just said she puts up with you.” He presses.

“I don’t know Dad. She’s great and all, but I just don’t want to have something and then screw it up like -” Steve pauses. 

_Screw it up like you did_ , he thinks. But now’s not really the time.

His dad gives a languid sigh. “Steve, what happened between me and your mother, it was great. I’m sorry the split made you feel alone but things change. People change.”

Steve laughs ironically. Don disregards it.

“I had so many amazing years with her and I’ll never forget it. Without her, I wouldn’t have you. I know you think it was my fault but you need to know just because we’re not together anymore doesn’t mean we love you any less. I still love you, kiddo.” 

Steve’s jaw juts to the right, biting down on the inside of his cheek to keep the buildup from spilling. He closes his eyes, feeling overcome with emotion. Even in memory, his father’s words will tug at his heartstrings.

“Yup. Thanks.” He manages, knowing if he said anymore his voice would betray him. 

“Does this mean you’re okay with the wedding?” 

Steve feels the pressure in his chest, so he stands straighter. “Sure, Dad. See you in December.”

The answer pleases his father. “Great! Hope to see you and your girlfriend soon.”

“Mhmm.”

“Oh and Steve?”

He sighs. “Yeah, Dad?”

“Be good to her, alright?”

The promise dumbfounds him. He wasn’t going to hurt you. But he knew where it stemmed from.

“I know Dad.” He hangs up before he can say goodbye properly but he thinks Don gets the point. 

He stares at the phone on the wall, his mind going over what his father said to him. 

_I still love you, kiddo._

It doesn’t make up for his teen years and what he felt before, but - it’s a start.

“Honeyy I’m home!” You singsong as you enter, letting Mickey roam around until he waddles straight to Steve and paws at his feet. 

Steve wipes at his face, making it seem like he didn’t just have a heart to heart with his father. You’re wiser than he is though. You know how to hide tears and Steve is no good at it. But you know who he’s called, it was inevitable. 

“I brought you your favorite,” You say, sliding him a takeout box from the Chinese place down the street. “I even bought that one dress I kept passing on 8th street. Ooh and I saw this really nice coffee maker that I think we could buy for Robin and Kali, I can tell they would love it.” 

He’s dissociated after you talk about the dress. He watches you ramble about something in the subway while you bend to feed Mickey and put away groceries. Ever since the ice cream incident, you’ve had this power over him. You’ve bewitched him.

It was the little things really, when you looked his way and smiled it made him feel weak. When your hands grazed each other accidentally, it gave him goosebumps. The way your face flushed whenever he did something to jab at your feelings for him or when he had you writhing under him that night. He thought Nancy made him feel butterflies, but you, you made him feel the whole damn zoo. 

He didn’t think this feeling would find him again after senior year. His life was basically going downhill in Hawkins, he wasn’t really living. But his new life in New York changed that. 

“Earth to Steve. Helloooo,” You wave a hand in front of his face, he blinks back into reality. 

“Sorry, what was that?”

You snicker to yourself as you wrap your arms around his neck and give him a tender kiss. 

“Now that I have your attention, I was thinking.”

“Oh, that can’t be too good.” He jests.

You playfully tug at his soft hair.

“Since Dustin’s wedding’s in California, I figured maybe I could show you around the good old West coast.”

He eyes you suspiciously. “Your mom called, didn't she?”

You whined quietly. “Okay she did, but also I just think maybe it’s time to make new memories in my hometown. Plus, as a native Californian, it is my job to make you love it.”

“I’m sure I’ll love anything that you make me try.” He nips at your lips, smirking as he kisses you again.

* * *

_June 29 - July 4, 1994_

_Dustin & Suzy’s Wedding _

_Palm Springs, California_

“Holy shit!” You exclaimed, in total awe of how huge the one-bedroom in this hotel was. The air conditioning felt amazing after walking in the dry heat outside for a few minutes. 

“I don’t even think we can afford this,” Steve remarks, eyes landing on the huge wooden ceiling with cascading linens. 

“Oh, we definitely can’t. But look!” You squeal happily as you launch yourself onto the king-sized mattress. “This has to be how celebrities sleep.”

Steve leaves the suitcases by the bed as he explores and comes across a bay window. The view of rocky mountains and some greenery and houses in the distance isn’t too bad, but it was just too sweltering hot to enjoy.

He takes it in one more time before going back to look for you, finding you rolling around comfortably on the bed. 

“Do you think we can sneak this out to take home?” You splay your arms and legs out as if you were making angels in the snow. 

He leans on the doorway, amused. “I think we’d have to smuggle it in pieces but I’m sure they won’t notice a king-sized bed missing.” 

You sigh in content at the fresh sheets. 

“Hey, I promised Dustin I’d catch up with him by the pool later, I wasn’t sure if you wanted to come. Or you can stay here and enjoy the breeze.”

You sit up, “Are you kidding? And miss a chance to meet the mysterious Dustin Henderson? No way, I’m coming and I’m bringing a swimsuit.”

* * *

“She’s not what I expected at all,” Dustin says coyly as he takes a sip from the colored can of beer.

You wade from one side of the pool to the other, enjoying the refreshing water and the sun beating down on you. You were nearly reminiscent of Phoebe Cates in that one movie Steve would replay during his time at Family Video. 

“In a good way or…”

“Oh no, very good. She seems waaay out of your league. Are you sure you two are together? This isn’t some joke?”

Steve bumps shoulders with Dustin as he chuckles and takes a sip from the can. 

“Honestly, I’m still asking myself the same thing.” 

He doesn’t know why he didn’t feel some way towards you before, but maybe the looming image of Danny kept him in check. He wasn’t afraid of him, but he just felt weird about making moves on you so quickly after you broke up. 

“Does she know about Hawkins?” 

Steve shakes his head. “It’s not important. As far as she knows, stuff like that is fairytales and movies.”

“That’s kind of you. Suzy’s in the dark about it too. I don’t think she believes all our stories.”

“How is Suzy?”

“So great! I’m a lucky man. She runs this science camp for low-income kids on the side when she’s not in the courts and stuff.”

“My sweet nerd is marrying another nerd, how cute.” Steve pulls Dustin into a hold and ruffles his now big and curly hair. 

“Alright, alright.” Dustin protests. 

You swim to the other side of the pool and emerge from underwater in surprise as Dustin screams in a high pitch. It knocks Steve dead as he doubles over and high fives you.

“Sorry Dustin, Steve made me do it.” 

Dustin joins in on the laughter and waves it away. “I was just telling him it’s a miracle he’s gotten laid since I was fifteen.”

You laugh blithely, “You and me both buddy. Last time he got one in was in a garden by the beach in public.”

Dustin’s mouth falls open as he glances at an embarrassed Steve. 

“Alright, Steve!” He brings his hand up to high five him.

“Really? For that?”

“Hey, I mean can’t be worse than a cemetery. It’s creepy but oddly enough pretty romantic.”

“Ew.” You and Steve say in unison.

“It makes you think about how precious life is! You can’t always go the simple route!” He argues.

“Speaking of simple, how was the proposal?” You ask, trying to get the image of lovers messing around in a cemetery out of your head.

“Per-fect, well almost. I took her out stargazing and had this little picnic where I knew the stars would be the same as when we first met at camp. She thought it was out of nowhere but I think she knew what was going on when I choked on the ring in the champagne.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at his blunder, but squeezed his hand to let him know it wasn’t in a bad way. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s alright, she thought I was laughing at her joke when it happened. Terrible timing but didn’t affect her decision.”

You spend more time getting to know more about Dustin, particularly his life in Hawkins and all the crazy things he and Steve used to get up to. At one point he tells a funny story about how one summer, Steve tried to get a girl’s number and memorized her Scoops Ahoy order to charm her only to be rejected because she didn’t find him funny or “hot” enough.

By the time sunset falls, you excuse yourself to go dry off and change, leaving the men to chat amongst themselves again.

Steve meets you back at the room after your shower, saying how even though he didn’t need it, you had Dustin’s seal of approval and that he found you charming. 

“He seems like he was a sweet kid. Those babysitter stories were so funny,” You say, drying your hair off.

He laughs nervously. “Yeah I know right?”

“Like come on, a bat with nails? Man, you guys must’ve had so much fun back home.”

Steve nods, trying to imagine what normal you were picturing.

“You know,” he says wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you close. “I don’t think we’ve broken this bed in.”

Your brow raises as you glance back to the neatly folded sheets. “I just showered.”

He shrugs, “I’m sure I can clean you up after. I heard I’m really good with my hands.”

You succumb to his charm easily and cup his face in your hands to kiss him eagerly. 

* * *

You wake up feeling like you’re in complete heaven. You’re back home, with someone you love and in a huge bed that you definitely will scrounge up change for later. Nothing else could be better.

You turn onto your side, Steve’s still asleep and snoring softly as you run a dainty finger across his moles and then to graze his back. Your fingers scratch him lightly and he makes a content sigh suggesting he enjoys it. 

He wakes up soon after you stop, his eyes not knowing where to look first. He loved everything about you so much it made his heart ache. 

“Hey.” He whispered.

“Hi.” You grin.

“You know I think people have a point, we don’t look bad together.”

“People think that?”

“Well, mostly just that you know, you’re out of my league emotionally and physically.”

You burst into laughter as you get up and get ready.

“What? They don’t say the same to you?” 

“Hmm I mostly just get, 'Why do you hang out with that old Radio Shack employee all the time?'”

“Radio Shack’s dea- it’s not a thing anymore.” He says, throwing a pillow at you.

You catch it seamlessly and throw it back, “Yeah but it would seem like you’d work there under the guise of knowing how technology works to get girls numbers.”

You dig through your suitcase and pull two dresses and splay them on the bed for him to pick.

“Is red kind of too attention-getting? Or is the lavender just too slutty?”

Steve puts his hands together as if he’s in deep thought. “I mean either one will make me have to hide behind the pamphlets if we stand.”

You groan but chuckle at the ego boost. “I think we’ll go with lavender.” 

It takes you nearly an hour to get ready thanks to Steve’s increasing horniness because of your dress. You’d be lying if you didn’t think him hiking up the skirt of your dress up and seeing his hand disappearing under it in the mirror wasn’t hot. But you weren’t about to arrive late and show up the bride so you made him keep it in his pants.

You meet some of Steve’s old friends, Lucas and Max who came from Palo Alto. You and Max get along instantly, diving into Californian things while Lucas and Steve have zero idea of what you guys are talking about. 

“Have you guys taken a photo by the garden yet? It’s so beautiful!”

“I didn’t even think there was a garden here, oh,” You chuckle, feeling Steve come from behind you and wrap his arms around your waist. He settles his chin onto your shoulder, egging you to go look. 

“We didn’t even bring a camera.” You remember. 

Max tells you not to worry as she has one Lucas gave her for her birthday. You and Steve are mesmerized by the tiny garden decorated with pretty lights and gold balloons with a starry night backdrop. You’d have to ask Dustin where he got these later.

You pose like Charlie’s Angels, a typical and embarrassing prom pose, and then squeeze in a couple of goofy ones before the ceremony starts. 

You don’t typically get too emotional at these things, but lately, everything has been hitting differently. Dustin’s vows to Suzy are nostalgic and he tops it off with a rendition of some song Steve cannot bear to hear again but you annoy him with it afterward. 

The reception is amazing, Dustin tells you it was all Suzy’s idea and you can see how much detail she poured into this thing. It’s all white and gold, something you imagine heaven would probably be like. The music is sweet but also soulful and slow which you appreciate because you could not handle the fast songs played at the other two weddings. When it’s Dustin and Suzy’s turn to dance on the floor to a slow song, you feel Steve’s hand squeeze yours.

You glance at him, he’s completely invested in this as much as you are and it shows on his dreamy face. You squeeze his hand back, letting your head rest on his shoulder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Were there clues I didn't see?  
>  And isn't it just so pretty to think  
> All along there was some  
> Invisible string  
> Tying you to me?_  
> T.S. Invisible String


	6. Meet the Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to meet the parents! However, it's really better said than done. Steve finds himself having doubts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEEEEEEAAA CAN I GET SOME ANGST UP IN HERE!!!!! This is a precursor because the next chapter is gonna be a gut punch.

California’s a success. Steve’s first time is admittedly a mess but it’s funny to just see him get lost in the Hollywood strip and its characters that rival Times Square. There are the Santa Monica beaches where you launch him into the deep for shits and giggles, the moving Ferris Wheel where he screams like a little girl, and the small fair your town has annually. He admits that this is ten times better than Hawkins because he has never seen Bugs Bunny jump Mickey Mouse on the strip while demanding he gets his money. 

The trip helps you put the bad things that happened years ago in the back burner. You don’t mean to romanticize your small town but walking down the boardwalk hand in hand, playing fair games like shy teens paired with a slightly foggy night and the crescent moon illuminating both of you, it’s just so much to take in. This is like a John Hughes movie.

You squeeze Steve’s hand nervously, walking up the driveway of your old house. 

“We don’t have to go in if you don’t want to, you know. I could just say I got the flu or something.”

Steve stops midway and wraps his arms around your waist. “You know, if anything, I feel like I should be the one who’s nervous to meet your parents.”

You sigh, “I know - it’s just - it’s been a while and I just want to leave them with something good after everything.”

“Hey, don’t overthink it. Everything’s going to be okay.” 

You nod, feeling the blush creep on your cheeks when Steve tucks a strand of loose hair behind your ear. 

He waits for you to give the sign, content with whatever you’ll think up anyways. After having a small pep talk with yourself in your head, you muster up the courage to continue up the driveway until you arrive at the front door and ring the bell. 

Steve surveys the place, seeing just how different your worlds were. Your parents decorate it almost better than his parents ever could, but to be fair, they were always off on trips for bad reasons. He stares down at the mat under his feet, a cute hippo character leaning on the words ‘ _Home_ ’. 

You squeeze his hand one more time before the door opens to reveal a tiny woman he guessed was your mom. 

“Hi, Ma.” You say, being pulled into a kiss and a bear hug. Your mom mutters things that he can’t hear until the attention goes from you to him.

“Come in! Come in! The food’s almost ready!” Your mom ushers both of you in, signaling to your dad who was sitting and watching a game to help you with your things. 

“Oh, Mom you really didn’t have to do that. We just came back from the fair.”

Your mom waves that away, “That’s not actual food.”

She disappears into the kitchen and by then, your nerves have gone somewhat. Your dad comes back from putting your coats away in another room and seems eager to have company. You didn’t have to guess why.

“Danny, right?” Your dad asks, hand out to shake Steve’s hand. You almost bring a hand to smack against your face.

“ _Steve_ , Dad. It’s Steve.”

Steve takes it in stride apparently, laughing it off. “Steve Harrington, sir.”

Your dad apologizes profusely, shaking Steve’s hand a little too much and patting him on the shoulder. He guides you both to the table, where you sit next to Steve and reach for his hand under the table as you make small talk and your dad complains about some things in the attic that bothered them at night.

“So Steve, what do you do?” Your dad asks, passing the food around for you both to take. 

Steve hesitates, suddenly conscious about his work. “I’m a bartender at this club owned by a friend of mine.”

Your dad makes a sound showing he’s impressed. “So you’re a master of the cocktails is what I’m hearing.” 

You stifle a laugh, remembering how much fun your dad was. Steve doesn’t take offense, in fact, he seems to play well off of your dad. It’s so bizarre, seeing just how both of them get along and talk about things you really did not pay mind to. At one point, your dad makes a crude joke that makes Steve’s head fall back against his chair with laughter. His shoulders bounce as his eyes crinkle and he gives his signature dorky laugh. 

It felt nice. For a moment it felt like you hadn’t left home and ditched everyone to start again with some block-headed clumsy but loveable bartender from Hawkins. 

“We were wondering when you’d come back. Your sister was asking about you.” Your mom’s voice brings you out of your happy daze. 

Steve glances at you. Your relationship with your sister wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best. Your parents’, or rather Mom’s, constant competitiveness trickled down to you two. It shouldn’t have but down the line, it just became a race of who could be the golden child. She too was a part you wanted to leave behind just for a while. 

You feign a smile and dig into the starter plate that sat hot on the table. “How is she?” 

Your mother sits across from you as she finishes putting the food at the center. “Good. Just graduated from this really nice school up in Vancouver. Now she’s marrying a doctor.”

_ It seemed like everyone was marrying someone this year. _

You stop your cutting of the chicken breast, the knife shrieking against the porcelain. Steve nearly chokes on the bread loaf he grabbed earlier. His eyes stay trained on you, unsure of what you’re going to say.

You shrug it off,  _ not the time _ . “Cute. I wonder how she managed to get all the way up there. Did someone pay for that or...”

Steve feels the tension and tries his best to diffuse it. He grabs the basket full of loaves of bread and passes them around. Your dad takes one enthusiastically, ignoring your mother completely. 

“You know Danny said that you wouldn’t return his calls.” Your mother says as a matter of factly. 

_ Did she have no shame? And in front of Steve?  _

“ _Ha_!” You laugh mirthlessly, “Let me guess, you told him that I was just going through something and that I’d take him back.” 

“He’s a nice boy,” She clasps her hands together. “No offense, Steve.”

Steve chuckles nervously as he bites into the chicken breast. 

“Yeah well, nice boys don’t go around sleeping with the first girl they see after an argument, Mom.”

“Great chicken,” Steve mumbles through a mouthful of food.

“Did you consider that maybe you weren’t putting him first?” She suggests. 

“Hey Steve, you mind passing the gravy?” Your dad asks, still minding his business. 

The two men help each other as you eye your mother incredulously. 

You let your silverware clatter onto the plate. “Not when he decides to fuck my sister.”

The table goes quiet as your mom’s face falls. There’s a piece of you that feels great at letting that one rip, it damages the image your mom had of your sister. Your mom stammers as she tries to process the thought. Your dad sips on his champagne and hums in delight. 

You push your seat out from the table and stand, letting the napkin fall onto the plate of unfinished food. “You know what, I just remembered. I’m not hungry.”

You motion for Steve to follow you as you take shelter in your old room and sigh in relief once you close the door behind you both. 

Steve scans the room full of memorabilia that he both had and hadn’t seen before. You had more exclusive things, no doubt the result of you being right next to Tinseltown. His hand smooths over the posters you’d gotten from magazines, now bent and discolored and slightly ripped. He chuckles at the sight of a Rob Lowe poster and some disco recordings that were for sure overplayed. 

“Didn’t peg you as a mullet fan.” He says, waving the poster in front of his face and making kissy sounds. 

“God no, that’s my sister’s. I was more of a Ponyboy girl.” You bring Mr. Lowe’s poster down and smile warmly when you meet Steve’s shy eyes. 

“Feels like I’m back home.” 

“Is that a good thing?” You have to ask.

“I mean, the bombshells and the cheating? Yeah, I feel right at home.”

“Oh.” You say simply.

He tries to comfort you by running his hands up and down your arms again and then enveloping you in a hug. “I’m sorry today didn’t go how you wanted it to be.”

“It’s okay, at least we got it out of the way. Plus, now you know my mom’s a cantankerous witch.”

You feel his chest rumble with laughter followed by his stomach gurgling. “Oh I’m sorry, I forgot you were eating when the whole thing happened.” 

“It’s alright. Maybe we can raid the kitchen when they go to sleep or something.”

You smirk. “You read my mind. I know exactly where my mom hides the good stuff.” 

Steve inhales sharply. "Hmm I don't know, you seem like a bad influence on me."

You roll your eyes but chortle at the comment.

You waited until your dad knocked on your door and said goodnight, knowing your mother would’ve been too mortified to even speak to you worked in your favor. You both crept into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of leftover champagne and wine and some pieces of food and ran back. 

On the way back, Steve accidentally banged his toe against the doorway and stifled a groan. 

“Not so ninja now, are you?” You whisper, poking fun at him before rushing back into the room and dragging him in and going nuts on the midnight snack.

You both must be lightweights because one champagne and wine bottle later, you’re trying on old clothes and modeling in funny poses while Steve tries his best to stay quiet but cheer you on. 

“You’re looking at sexy ninth-grade material here.” You slur, trying to balance yourself on your bedpost. 

Steve groans. “Don’t say that it’s weird.” 

“I can’t forget one more thing.” You clumsily walk to your nightstand and open the drawer and find your old retainer. Once you pop it in you climb onto Steve and straddle him, laughing as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Steve seems to think so as he pushes you to the side and rolls on top of you to pepper you with sloppy kisses. 

“Okay, okay, we gotta ditch the contraband. Otherwise, Mother Gothel here’s gonna lose her mind.” 

Steve takes the initiative and scoops up all the trash and bottles. 

“You sure you know what you’re doing? I wouldn’t want you to hurt the old toe again.”

“ _Pffft_. I’m a pro! Robin used to make me take out the trash all the time. I got this.” 

Untrue to his word, he stumbles a bit and collides with the door. The bottles clink but thankfully it’s not loud enough to wake your parents. He disappears back into the dark as you settle in bed. 

His eyes are wide in an attempt to see in the dark. He almost trips on some ottoman your mom had in the living room but narrowly avoids it. He pep talks himself into running outside and dropping everything in the can but accidentally lets go of the wine bottle and hears it shatter. 

He freezes.

When the coast is clear he returns to the house and guides himself in the dark with arms feeling around. He feels his hand touch something hard and sturdy. He grabs it with his hand and tries to bring it to the little moonlight that floods in the living room to see. 

It’s a family photo of everyone celebrating a birthday. You’re all toasting in the photo but you’re the only one not toasting. Steve feels himself smile at the big grin you give the camera. His thumb covers another person so he moves it to get a better view of who it is. 

Danny. 

He’d be lying if he didn’t say he felt like he was in a perpetual state of annoyance with him. He seemed to be everywhere, and he wasn’t even in the picture anymore. No pun intended. 

He returns to your room and feels something in him shift. _Was he always going to play second fiddle to everyone?_

When you feel him settle in with you, you turn and cuddle him. He lets you for the time being, but now he feels himself do the very thing he didn’t want to do. Overthink. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I'm sorry, girl  
>  If I'm not the model man that you wanted I admit  
> But you should learn right now  
> That we can drive, drive like the wind_  
> I'm A Kid ~ Jadu Heart


	7. On Hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kali and Robin's rooftop wedding is a hit! Steve makes a very stupid choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Steve, Steve, Steve. When will you stop running away?

_Kali & Robin Buckley’s Wedding Party _

_October 30, 1994_

_New York, NY_

__

October rolls around fairly quickly. Danny should be far from Steve’s mind, but he isn’t. You’ve noticed the change in Steve’s mannerisms with you. He still laughs and does things with you, but it doesn’t seem like he puts much heart into it anymore. He’s started taking longer shifts at the bar now, often leaving you and Mickey alone until you have to leave for work too. You only see him on the weekends, and even then, he suddenly starts hanging out with his friends more. He says he’s going somewhere but you know the truth, you can practically smell the alcohol on him sometimes when he needs help opening the door.

He’s started sleeping on the couch with Mickey instead of the bed you two shared. Some part of you thinks this is your fault, maybe you shouldn’t have made him meet your family only a few months into dating. He only really started acting like this a month or two after the whole family disaster. 

Today was Kali and Robin’s party, they elected not to have something big or fancy and instead just invited people they knew to the rooftop of their apartment building. Oddly enough, the dress code urged those invited to either dress up or come in costumes. Either would spice up the night. 

You dressed up nicely for the occasion, trying to catch Steve’s eye by wearing his favorite colors and pairing it with one of his jackets. 

He’s in the kitchen writing something into a cheap card that is supposed to go with the coffeemaker you bought for the brides. Every once in awhile he’ll crumple the card up or strike his words from it and get another card from the pile you’d bought. It was routine now, you could tell as even Mickey had gotten bored of watching him and instead entertained himself with one of Steve’s old sneakers. 

You can’t sit properly on the couch, bouncing up and down on the arm of it and waiting for Steve to hurry up. You’ve timed it so that every time he hears the springs and turns around, you stop and wait for him to turn around and do it again.

“Steve, let’s go. I’m sure they’ll frame your card once they read it. Or at least one of the many versions you give them.” 

You fall back onto the cushions, feeling them starting to lose their soft bounciness. This thing was not made to last this long.

“I think we need a new couch. You killed the poor thing.” 

“You have money for a new couch?” He asks without even looking up from writing. 

His tone didn’t sit right with you. “I figured, you know since you’re working long shifts we could split it maybe.”

**_Beat._ **

“The couch stays.” He concludes. 

“The couch stays.” You mock him. “It’s fine, I’ll buy a new one.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. I live here too. Plus the alcohol smell burns my eyes.”

“I like it that way.” He pauses writing but still doesn’t look up.

“How much longer?” You whine.

“Alright, alright, I’m just writing our names down.” He half-asses both your signatures and then stands. “Ready?”

“Since three hours ago.” You pull your jacket on and take the gift bag with you.

“What is that? Where’s the coffee thing?” He gestures to the brightly colored bag. 

You squeeze your eyes shut as you remember you’d left it in your friend’s car the day she gave you a ride home. “Shit.”

“Seriously?” His tone is a little stronger.

“What’s the problem? We can just swing by and get it, I’ll call her right now and she’ll have it out for us in a second.”

“No, no, just forget it. We don’t have enough time.” He huffs, leaving first and leaving you alone with Mickey.

“No yeah, I’ll just walk myself downstairs too, yup.” You mumble to yourself as you wave goodbye to your pet and walk out.

You spend the car ride trying to get him to crack a smile, anything to just show that he hasn’t picked to be a robot for this party. If you thought this was bad, the elevator ride is worse. Steve held onto the bars firmly, he hadn’t had a great experience with elevators in the past. 

“Steve, relax. I can always give it to her on my way back from work anyways.”

“I just don’t like showing up empty-handed, it’s rude.” 

“I promise you, they will not care about a machine. Who cares?”

“I care!” He suddenly barks. 

You stare back at him, in surprise at his outburst. 

“Can you,” you whisper in a hushed tone as the elevator doors open. “Can you please let it go tonight? I don’t want to be here in a fight with you.”

“I’m not doing anything.” He says dismissively.

You cock your head, “Really? Because I think you’re throwing a hissy fit over a gift. I _have_ another gift!”

“Can you not do that?” He shakes his head, going out the doors. 

You trail behind him at a quick pace. “Do what?!”

“Don’t pin this on me because you forgot the thing.”

“I literally offered to go get it! It’s not that big a deal!”

“So I guess I’m the bad guy for wanting to see their reaction now?”

“You act like they’re going to take turns screwing the damn thing!” 

“I just don’t see how you managed to mess this one thing up.”

You glare at him, “What is going on with you today?”

“Nothing. Nevermind.” He concludes. You huff and speedwalk to leave him and meet up with a dolled up Robin.

She’s wearing a really nice thin-strapped dress that flows to her ankles, heels barely visible underneath them but you can tell they’re the strappy ones she’d bought weeks ago. Her dirty blonde hair is slightly longer and pulled into an updo but her fringe is out in full force and shiny. She seems to be impervious to the cold breeze that’s out tonight. She stands out in a sea of formally dressed and costumed people. 

She stops talking to the pair in front of her once her eyes meet yours and rushes to you. She brings you into a big hug, swaying you from side to side and laughing in that soft raspy voice of hers. You missed having that big sister feeling in the apartment now more than ever. 

“Bunny! Oh my god, you made it!” She remarks, taking in your appearance and twirling you to get a better look. 

“Are you kidding? I couldn’t miss this historic moment for anything else. You look - just wow!” You wave a hand over her dress, in complete awe of it. 

She shyly lifts the skirt of the dress showing you how pretty it was when it moved freely. 

“I think this is my biggest purchase besides opening the shop.”

Your eyes widen. “You didn’t.”

Robin beams with excitement as she reveals she really did take the plunge and opened up a coffee shop in a nice part of Manhattan with Kali’s art decorating its interiors. 

“I’m so happy for you! I really have to go try it one of these days.” 

Robin’s hands reach for yours and swing them about, “I know you’d like it a lot! I think it’s the only baby Kali and I will have for now.”

You can tell Steve is behind you because Robin shifts her attention from you to him. “Dingus! So glad you’re here!” 

She takes Steve into a bear hug, the two of them catching each other up.

“I hear my matchmaking services are no longer needed.” Robin side-eyes you with a smirk, glancing back to Steve. 

Trying not to hint anything was off tonight you just smiled and nodded and went to find Kali. 

Kali’s dressed in black pants and a green silk camisole, her hair’s no longer dyed purple but gone back to her natural black. It’s chopped to sit on her shoulders and parted in the middle. She’s tending to her little garden away from other people. She’s always liked her privacy.

Kali had changed since Robin met her, at least that’s what she says. When Robin decided to up and leave Hawkins, Kali was another person who had escaped that “hellhole” as she put it, and bounced around different places. She never stayed anywhere for long but Robin made a huge difference. She stayed here for Robin.

“Hi, Kali.” You sneak up behind her, she doesn’t jump but instead smiles warmly. She sets down her dirty gloves and a bottle of water.

When you hug she smells like the perfume you’d gotten her for her birthday. A ting of something earthy and some other thing you couldn’t pronounce right. 

“How’re you? It’s been a while.” 

“Oh you know, just trying to keep up with the workload.”

“So I've heard! I see you guys finally opened up the shop.”

You both sit on a bench she had set up next to the garden. 

“To be honest I almost didn’t want to do it, but then I saw how happy it made Robin and I figured, what’s one little thing?”

“How’s the installation?”

Kali tends to a potted plant, “Really great actually! For a while, it was kind of a hit and miss with all these different gallery owners. I walk in and they wouldn’t even look at my portfolio. But Robin made me keep trying. Now one of them's coming to look at my stuff next week.”

“That's awesome! Have you told her?”

Kali shrugs. “I figured I’ll save it for the honeymoon. We could use the extra cash. Plus I can tell she’s kind of tired of the same old routine. She says she isn’t but I know she is.” 

“Speaking of extra cash,” you pull out the gift bag and the card. “Ta-Da!”

Kali hesitates but takes the bag anyway. She digs through the tissue paper and is surprised to find new paints and brushes. 

She looks up at you in shock. “Oh my god, how much was all this?”

She lifts up one of the brushes and runs her index finger over the smooth wood and fineness of it. It was expensive, sure, but gifts are a small price to pay when you want to show someone they’re appreciated.

“Don’t worry about it.” You chuckle, loving the way she was trying not to freak out over the set.

“How did you know?” 

“A little bird told me your brushes were on their last legs.”

It hits Kali then. Her lips upturn into a fond smile. “I can’t believe I’m married to the most thoughtful person.” 

“I’d steal her from you if I wasn’t with someone already.”

“Steve, you mean?” 

You chuckle again and quirk a brow, “Now, how did _you_ know?”

Kali purses her lips. “Just a little birdy.” 

You both share a laugh as she continues to go through the gifts in awe of variety. 

Robin comes in, changed into a puffy-sleeved polka-dotted and belted dress. She really did go all out. Her hair is let down now, slightly wavy from the updo. 

“Steve’s making drinks if you guys want some.” She gestures back into the party.

“Oh no, that means we’re either going to get very drunk or stay very sober.” You jest, helping Kali up as she eagerly shows Robin her gift. 

Robin’s eyes widen at the expensive appearance of it. “Geez, how much did these run you? Maybe I can pay you back.”

You wave her concern away. “You can pay me back by using the coffee machine we got you. Steve’s a little upset I forgot to bring it.” 

Robin scoffs. “When _isn’t_ he irritated by the smallest thing? It’s fine! What is it?”

“It’s a Keurig.”

Kali and Robin glance at each other, impressed.

“I think this is the first step to us being fancy people,” Robin grins. 

Steve looks right at home behind the bar and serves drinks as fast as he can to all the attendees. The three of you wait as he makes what he calls his special which really just is tequila and some light beer mixed together with some agave, salt, and lemon. 

He pours it into three glasses and the look of it almost just makes you want to not drink it. It looks like someone vomited into a beer. 

You all give each other a look as you count down to three and then down the entire cup. Kali taps out halfway, feeling the lemon and salt too much. But you and Robin chug it all and then slam the bottom of the glass down onto the bar. 

Steve looks at you both totally surprised. “Usually people take those in moderation but....that works too.” 

You tap out around the third drink, not feeling too tipsy but definitely also not feeling as sober as you could’ve been.

Robin is a firecracker four drinks in, rambling on and on about something that Kali snickers to and telling embarrassing stories about Steve when they worked at Family Video. 

Steve tries to stop her by shoving a lemon wedge in her mouth but she takes it in stride and sucks it dry. 

When the music changes to something more funky and upbeat, Robin changes her tune.

“Come on guys let’s dance!” She slurs, taking Kali’s hand and bringing her to the dance floor. 

Kali goes along with her drunken lover’s actions, mimicking whatever Robin is doing which currently looks like those inflatable characters outside car washes. 

You and Steve crack up at the sheer ridiculousness but you find it endearing. 

Robin tires herself out a little when the music switches to soul music. But she nonetheless runs up to the stage where the DJ is and takes the microphone and yells excitedly into it.

“I wanna thank everyone for coming and celebrating with us!"

The crowd cheers. She grips the microphone in her hand, feeling overcome with emotion. In a moment of sobriety, she begins her toast.

"Kali and I have known each other for four years but it feels like forever. And in that time, in that span of terrible first dates and restless nights, one day I just had this feeling.”

The crowd is quiet as she speaks, painting a nice picture of Kali and all the things they got into after they started dating.

“My grandmother used to tell me that love was like a rollercoaster. You think you’ll know when the drop is coming but you really don’t. You’re just going up that hill slowly, totally oblivious to the people that come and go. You’re gripping that bar so tight when things hit you all at once and you scream and cry when it all goes downhill and upside down. But then you settle into it and you realize, it’s not that bad.”

Robin glances at Kali, a fond look on her face. 

“Love is messy and it makes you feel gross and feel like the pain will never end. But with Kali, the rollercoaster is fun! It’s not scary or painful. She’s holding my hand through it all and I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better partner than her.”

She points to Kali in the crowd. Kali blushes. 

“Kali, you’re my other half. I love you and I like you.” Robin concludes as the crowd claps and cheers.

You and Steve help Robin off the stage as Kali takes over to give the toast. 

Robin takes the glass of champagne eagerly from the waiter, you have to hold her arm down to not let her drink it too fast. 

Steve passes Kali a glass as everyone quiets down to hear the bride. Kali visibly breathes in to calm her nerves and speak. 

“I don’t think I would’ve ever imagined myself to be where I am today. I was….in a dark place, for so long. I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I never stayed in the same place for longer than I needed to. I built these….walls around me, never really living. All I had was magic.”

People in the crowd chuckled, thinking she meant practical magic tricks. Steve chuckled to himself. 

“But then I met Robin. And at first, I was a little confused but also a little intrigued. She was kind and patient and snarky. She never pushed me unless she thought it was something I needed to do. She became my best friend, my confidant, and now she’s my wife. Robin, you’re magic I don’t need to create. I like you and I love you.”

Steve’s in deep thought as he takes in what Kali has just professed. He feels the overthinking takeover. 

“To Robin and Kali!” The crowd exclaims in unison and drinks. 

Robin sniffles into her glass, wiping at her happy tears. “That’s my wife.” 

Her laughter was so free and calming, so child-like despite being older. She retained that snark and joy even now, it seemed like being an adult didn’t halt her momentum at all.

Robin goes dancing with Kali to a sweet upbeat song. You glance at Steve, silently asking him with your eyes if he wants to dance. He turns away and returns to the bar, downing a shot and disappearing into the crowd.

You wish you could say you’re disappointed but that would be an understatement. 

You grab the bottle behind the bar and take small swigs, watching the happy couple sway. 

_Ooh baby, here I am,_

_signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours!_

* * *

“There you are.” You say, finding Steve sitting on the sidewalk, cigarette in hand.

“Since when do you - is that - are you Smokey the Bear now?” 

The way he was acting earlier suggested something other than the gift was bothering him and you assume it didn’t help that you were judging his coping habits now either. 

“Smokey doesn’t even - I was just thinking.” He sighs, flinging the cigarette butt onto the concrete and stepping on it with his heel. 

“About?”

He shrugs, hands shoved into his pants pockets as he maintained eye contact with his shoes. “I don’t know, stuff I guess.” 

“Oh, stuff. Okay, in that case, let me leave you and your big galaxy brain to overthink.”

He makes a pass to go back inside the party but you grasp onto his jacket from the arm and stop him. “Hey. Stop! Talk to me. You keep walking on eggshells around me, what’s wrong?”

He glances at you briefly before looking back down and running a hand through his hair. “I just - I’ve been thinking a lot about...us. What we’re doing.”

You were taken aback. “We’re dating. Have been for a few months, what is there to think about?”

“It’s not weird to you that all of a sudden we’re just this couple?”

You shake your head. “Steve, this wasn’t a split second thing. You agreed to this months ago. I mean, you met my parents.”

“Yeah, yeah, because that’s the deal isn’t it? Boyfriends meet their girlfriend’s parents and stuff.”

Your brows furrow. “Steve.”

“I just - if you had told me at the beginning of this year that I’d be with you I would not have believed it.”

_That kinda hurts._

“Okay? Quite frankly the thought of dating and you were a nightmare but here we are.” 

“Thanks.” He dismisses.

“Listen, everything just happened! These weddings changed how I felt about you and I couldn’t help it.”

He juts his jaw to the side as he tries to say the hard part. 

“I can just feel you starting to get comfortable. And I don’t know. I mean I haven’t been in a relationship in years.” He presses his palms to his eyes in exasperation.

“What are you talking about?”

He sighs. “Have you noticed we’re not like Kali and Robin? We don’t _have_ what they have.”

“A pair of vaginas?”

“ _No_! I - I look at these other couples and they’re not like us. They have this thing this...”

“Love.” You finish for him softly.

“Yes!”

“Okay! Well if this is about me not being able to say ‘I love you’ then I love you, dumbass!”

He grimaces. Your face falls. You don’t want to ask but you need to flush it out of your system. 

“Steve, do you love me?”

The question flings him into deja vu territory. He’s had this conversation before, back when he and Nancy called it quits. Only the roles are reversed. It makes him uneasy.

“I don’t know. I don’t - all I know is I didn’t want to be Danny.”

You can feel your stomach churn.

“You have _never_ been Danny.” You shake your head. “I don’t know where you got that idea.”

He can’t think right.

“Steve, I’m not asking you to marry me," you half-laugh to lighten the mood. "I’m just asking you if you love me.”

His heart aches for you. Begging someone to love him was the language he spoke for so long. And yet here he was acting like he was deaf to it.

“I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it and right now everything’s going at a million miles an hour.”

He can hear the way he’s word vomiting and he just wants to punch himself in the face.

“Is this because of our parents?” You ask suddenly.

“What?” 

“So we both have fucked up parents, so what?! Everyone’s parents are fucked up!”

“Okay, no see my dad cheated on my mom. He didn’t just mentally check out. He actually went and fucked someone else!”

“And he’s happy now, isn’t he? He doesn’t have to live with a burden anymore.” 

He scoffs. “And your dad does?”

Your mouth falls agape as you try to process the retort. “T-That’s different.”

“Oh, now it’s different! You know what? I think you’re afraid.”

You eye him dubiously. “Afraid of _what_?!”

“You’re afraid that you’ll end up just as fucked up as they are.” 

You cross your arms in defense, suddenly riled up. “You know what? Maybe my dad _didn’t_ fuck someone else. Maybe he should’ve. But you know what you are? You’re bullshit! All of this is bullshit. You’re so obsessed with finding Mrs. Right and becoming some top dog asshole that you’re choosing to be a piece of shit!”

Steve laughs sardonically as he walks away for a second and then returns. “I’m the asshole here? Me?”

You push him. He's slightly taller than you without your high shoes but you don't let that intimidate you. “This was you! This was all fucking you! You could’ve stopped at any time but you didn’t. This is as much on you as it is on me.”

“Because you made it that easy, right?” He snides.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He squeezes his eyes shut in irritation and rubs at his temple. “Everything has to be your way, doesn’t it? Everybody has to meet that romanticized version you have in your head but the truth is, nobody’s perfect!”

The sudden outburst takes you by surprise.

“I never put you on a pedestal,” you shake your head, biting back tears. “I had doubts too, Steve. This isn’t my fault.”

He runs his hand through his hair again and grips it.

“Do you love me?” You ask a final time. 

When he doesn’t reply automatically and instead shrugs, you nod, blinking tears away and sucking in your cheeks. “So that’s a no.”

Your voice indicates heartbreak. The crack in it strikes a chord within him, he’s aware of how badly this is affecting you. But this train has no rails or brakes. 

“It’s an ‘I don’t know’.”

“Okay.” You turn away from him, wiping at your tears. Your hands are shaking but you nonetheless bring them to shield your face in shame.

“I just need to be a hundred percent certain with you, and I’m not - I’m really not right now.”

“Jesus.” You whisper, avoiding his sorrowful gaze.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve stopped this a long time ago.”

His words make you want to throw up more than the drinks earlier.

“Steve stop. Just stop doing this okay? We have a good thing. We like each other!” You sniffle. “I love you but you need to stop running away when you have to make a choice.”

“I’ve - I’ve made my choice. I chose you and look where it’s gotten me.”

“Oh fuck off! You say you want love, Steve and I’m here!”

“I can’t.”

“I’ve been here! For two years!”

“I can’t! I can’t just turn my feelings off and play you like Danny did. It would kill me if I did that.” 

Now in tears, you can’t help feel like someone just knocked the wind out of you. “Don’t say that to me. You’re hurting me **_way_** worse than he ever did.”

At least the fucker had the decency to tell you to your face he was screwing your sister. Steve was just pushing you away when he felt you overwhelmed him. He had you in the palm of his hand and you loved it. 

He doesn’t say anything. There’s a heartbreaking silence in the air that you wish wasn’t there. You can’t see him but you can feel his eyes burning holes into you, anticipating your next move.

“I’m sorry.” He says, the words ripping your heart in pieces.

“Don’t say you’re sorry, Steve. Don’t play the good guy now.” you spat, stepping away from him.

He murmurs your name softly, the same softness he used all those times he would say those sweet nothings.

“Let me take you home.” He offers. You clutch the jacket closer and shrug him off. 

“Go to hell, Steve.” You cry, turning away finally and walking down the darkened street, leaving him alone. 

You don’t break down right away for fear of spiraling even more than you are now. Instead, you elect to go back to the apartment and call a friend to ask if you can stay for a night.

The moment you’re back home you flip the lock and let the tears fill your eyes and close them.

Your shoulders shake, your chest burns, your lips taste salty.

Mickey waddles up to you, likely sensing the shift in the tone of the room. You scratch behind his ear, sighing. “Hey, buddy.”

Mickey whines. 

“I can’t take you with me.” You tell him softly.

Mickey does a circle and sits with you, settling his little head on your thigh. 

“But I’ll be back okay? I promise I’ll come back for you.”

Mickey sneezes in response. 

When Steve goes back upstairs, he knows Robin knows something's up based on the way she shakes her head at him. She may be drunk but she wasn’t stupid. She approaches him with a serious face on, it scares him. Even though she was known to be the queen of snark, every time she so much as got too serious he knew it wasn't good. 

She smacks him upside the head, he yelps as he tries to calm the throbbing pain. 

"What did you do, Dingus?" She asks, hands on her hips like a mom scolding her child.

Steve stutters but can't find the words to say he just broke your heart.

Robin sighs and he doesn't have to guess how much she definitely wants to kick his ass right now. 

"I thought working at a bar required common sense and communication but it seems you lack both." 

He leaves a little soon after they cut the cake. He tries to put this night behind him but when he thinks he's in the clear, you pop back up into his head. It’s too quiet when he gets home. He ransacks the cabinets to down his sorrows with anything he can find. 

Tipsy and very heartbroken, he manages to fall asleep. 

When he wakes up the next morning and goes into your room. You’re gone. 

The room is empty, save for a few of your belongings left behind. Your overnight bag is gone and your dresser is ransacked.

He picks at one of your random tees discarded on the bed and brings it to his face. He can’t help but breathe in the smell, something he was so used to, something that brought him joy, just gone. All because of him.

This was senior year all over again.

Mickey paws at the front door, whining every so often. Probably wondering where you’d gone.

Steve wondered too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Can you see me? I'm waiting for the right time  
>  I can't read you but, if you want, the pleasure's all mine  
> Can you see me using everything to hold back?  
> I guess this could be worse  
> Walking out the door with your bags_  
> Bags ~ Clairo


	8. Making Up Is Hard To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets some closure. You and Nancy get a big surprise.

Two weeks. You’d been gone for two weeks. 

At first, he thought you just needed some time to cool off, so he waited. And waited.

And waited.

When you didn’t return after the third day, that’s when he started to panic. He’d called Robin, only to be met with an earful of how you were too good for him and that he needed to make a reassessment of his life. He knew that. 

The days started to feel long and lonely. Mickey was there sure, but he was starting to miss your presence. Your loud and annoying laughter didn’t fill his ears when he would watch your favorite shows. He wished you’d come out of the room at times and yell at him for using your luxurious things. 

He’d broken the foot tub. He didn’t know how, but he’d broken it and he wasn’t nearly as knowledgeable about fixing things as much as you were. 

Just when he was cleaning up his mess for the day, there was a knock on the door. He froze.

His heartbeat suddenly started to shake and rattle against his ribcage. There was an uneasy feeling in his stomach. One where you know you’ve done something wrong and tried to put it off and now have to face it. 

He exhales slowly, dropping what he’s doing and preparing himself for the worst. Maybe you’d push past him or call him names or take Mickey. He thinks taking Mickey would be worse. He didn’t like being alone with his thoughts and God knows he couldn’t charm anyone else to spend time with him lately. 

He opens the door in a swift motion, ready to say the usual “I’m sorry” but is met with someone he did not ever expect to see in the area.

Don Harrington. And company.

He’s in a grey suit jacket and jeans and sensible shoes, all things Steve hadn’t seen in a long time. Next to Don are two kids, the same kids that he hadn’t seen since he’d left Hawkins.

“Stranger! Stranger!” They yell in unison, pointing at Steve. 

“Guys! It’s ok, it’s just Steve, remember?” Don laughs charmingly, bringing his hands onto the boys’ shoulders and rubbing them to calm them down.

“Dad?” Steve asks, completely wide-eyed.

The kids push past Steve and begin their scream-a-thon again. Steve is too struck by his father standing in front of him to even care that they’re probably making a mess inside. 

“Hey son,” Don shoves his hands into his suit jacket. “Got a minute?”

Steve sighs. 

* * *

Steve reaches for the water basin to give his dad water and almost hides his opened bottle of alcohol but in a small thought, offers it to his dad. Don refuses it, saying he’s watching his figure. Steve scoffs to himself, just a few years earlier his dad would’ve loved a cup, or at least the whole thing.

“What are you doing here, Dad?” Steve asks, pouring the water. 

Don’s fingers tapped against the wooden table in drum-like motions. “Can’t a father visit his son with his future step-brothers? I’m worried about you, kid, you haven’t responded to any of my calls.”

Steve stops pouring. “Let’s not do this, alright?”

Don’s brows furrow. “Do what?”

Steve shoves the basin to the side. “Don’t pretend like you want to be there for me now. You had all that time then, why now?”

Don shuts his eyes. 

“Steve, I’m sorry. Really, I am. Listen, I know I wasn’t the greatest -”

“You were a grade-A asshole who ruined our family.”

Don doesn’t fight with his son. He knows his sins. But that’s what he’s here for, atonement.

“Did I make some harsh decisions for you to toughen up? Yes. Did I make your mother and you lose trust in me? Yes, but I’m here now Steve. I didn’t leave. I could’ve but I didn’t.”

“So all of this,” he gestures to Don and the kids, “suddenly just makes up for all the bullshit you’ve given me? Do you know how many times I heard mom crying in the middle of the night? All those times she pretended like those business trips you took were actually for business? Hell, do you even remember what happened when I left?”

“Yes, I do.” Don nods, closing his eyes again in uneasy remembrance. 

It would be better if the past was just forgotten.

“I know you’re angry at me. You have every right to be, but I did say I wanted to bury the hatchet. Everything I did is in the past now, your mother and I - you know, we moved on. She found someone and I did too. I think it’s only fair that you do as well. And I see you have.” 

Steve tenses up a little at the latter half of Don’s sentence. He did, didn’t he?

“Yeah. Maybe not, Dad.” Steve avoids his father’s eyes and fiddles with things on the counter.

Don catches on. “Why?”

Exasperated, Steve stops what he’s doing. 

“What happened? You made this girl sound like she was your soulmate tenfold!” 

“Maybe soulmates don’t exist, Dad. Maybe not for me anyway.” Steve plops himself down in front of his dad, clutching the mug of water to sober himself up more.

Don frowns. “What happened?”

Steve hesitates. He’s never bared his feelings to his dad since he left. And even then, it was all just dry replies and sarcasm and bitterness. But maybe it’s the alcohol talking or the fact that his dad really does seem like he’s changed. 

“I screwed it up. I just let myself get in my head and I - I pushed her away.”

Don places a comforting hand atop his son’s own. Steve recoils at first but settles. His father had never been too affectionate, no, that was his mother’s job. It felt off.

But it also felt a little more comfortable, honest. Like there wasn’t a hint of being affectionate for the sake of hiding some grand affair. 

“Steve, you’d tell me the truth if I asked you right?”

“I guess.”

“Do you hate Mary?”

“What? No. No.”

“Then why are you so mad about us?”

“I’m not mad, Dad. I just - when you and mom split, it messed me up. I didn’t want to be like you guys. I just wanted to find the one and hang onto her forever. And now I’m completely alone, so. And you’re just moving onto your next family.”

“Steve, I’m sorry that your mother and I splitting up hurt you so much. I’d be nothing if I hadn’t met her and I also wouldn’t have you. But kiddo, as long as your mother and I are alive, you’ll never be alone. Including your girlfriend. It's not too late to fix things."

* * *

“Thanks for letting me crash here, Nancy. I promise I’ll be out of your hair soon.” You say, fixing up your couch bed. 

Nancy waves your concern away. 

“Don’t even worry about it, it’s nice having company. Plus it gets kind of lonely at night.” She says, setting the white timer on and setting it down on the counter. 

“You cooking something?”

“No….just trying to time something.” She says vaguely. You don’t read too much into it for now.

Nancy smiles warmly instead, passing you a thick fleece blanket from the other couch. Jonathan was off doing a piece on the Northern Lights somewhere in Alaska. When Nancy had first revealed to him that you were staying with her until things settled, he had a few choice words for Steve.

You felt odd, having turned Steve’s friends somewhat against him. Nancy reassured you that this was familiar territory. They knew how Steve was. This is how she had remembered him in Hawkins during that honeymoon period they were in. 

“Do you miss him?” Nancy asks, settling into the blanket with you and putting the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. She was about to play the movie you two had debated on for a solid three minutes.

You shrugged as you fiddled with the chipped nail polish on your fingers. “I love him, Nance. But if I can’t convince him that nothing’s going on, then what’s the point?”

You sigh as you close your eyes and try to imagine when the last time you saw Steve happy was. You think the day in California was the best day of your life. He was like a little kid again, running around the boardwalk and trying to impress you with the “test your strength” games. The sunset perfectly illuminated him when you laid on the cooling sand, a single curl falling loose on his forehead from his quiffed hair.

“I don’t think you should let this deter you. Maybe Steve’s just scared. I mean why wouldn’t he? He’s had a fear of unfaithfulness forever. His parents, his friends, me and Jonathan. To him, there’s always been someone better.”

“I know.” You frown. “But, and excuse the cliche, when I’m with him - it’s like nobody else matters. If I was still with Danny the second I moved in with Steve and Robin, I think I would’ve been in trouble.”

Nancy’s brows perk up, intrigued. “How so?”

“I’ve been in love with Steve since the day I moved in. I promised myself I wouldn’t move on so fast after Danny but, I messed up that day.”

Nancy smiles at the sweet thought.

You shake your head in thought. “I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t his type after all.”

“Oh please, you’re definitely his type. Smart, tough, independent AND you have the balls to call him out on his bull? You’re his dream girl!”

You blush at the compliment. “Thanks, Nance.”

“You’re very welcome. Now, let’s riff on this romcom and throw popcorn when things get too cheesy.” 

The movie goes on for half an hour, the bottom of the tv set covered in popcorn bits and kernels. You and Nancy laugh hysterically and boo at the cheesy romantic scenes whenever they pop up. When the timer goes off Nancy glances over her shoulder and stands, giving you the half-empty bowl of popcorn.

“I’ll be back.” She says, going to the upstairs bathroom.

“Alright, but don’t take too long. I think Tom Hanks gets naked in the next scene.”

“I won’t.” She chuckles and disappears. 

You take a handful of popcorn in your hand and dump it in the hood of your sweater, bobbing for it in an attempt to stay distracted. 

Five minutes pass and Nancy hasn’t returned. You glance at the time on the tape player. It’s only so long that you can bear to stare at Tom Hanks’ eyes before he loses his charm. 

“Nancy?” You call out, hearing shifting from upstairs. No response though.

You count to three, getting up and letting pieces of popcorn fall to the ground. 

“Naaancy.” You step onto the stairs carefully, grabbing onto the wooden railing. 

Still no answer. You huff and resolve to go up the stairs.

“Nancy if this is your idea of a prank, just know it’s not great! I don’t get scared easily!” 

You make it all the way to the top and glance down both ends of the hallway. You see a light on at the end of the hallway on the left, the door left ajar just enough to see the shower. You approach with caution, hoping not to catch Nancy in an unflattering position. 

“Nancy?” You call again, now at the front of the bathroom door. You can hear sniffles like someone’s crying. Your brows furrow.

“Nancy?” You swing the bathroom door open slowly, meeting a crying Nancy on the floor next to the toilet. 

“Hey,” Your voice lowers an octave and becomes soft. “You okay?”

You kneel down to her level and put a hand on her back, rubbing in circles. 

She shakes her head, revealing a white stick in her hand. Your eyes widen when you realize what it is. 

“These aren’t real right? These are joke tests?”

Nancy looks up at you in teary puppy dog eyes. 

“I don’t know,” she hiccups. “I don’t know what to do. I was hoping it was a false alarm.”

Trying to make her feel better, you grab one of the untouched sticks and sit on the top of the toilet. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll pee on one too, and then we can see if it’s a false positive okay?”

“Okay.” She murmurs softly, chin now resting on her knees as she cowers against the shower door. 

“Have you and Jonathan talked about this kind of stuff?” You ask, shimmying your sweats down.

She shrugs and looks to the side. “It’s too early. He’s just so focused on his career and I  _ just _ got this job….it’s in the plans...just - not right now.”

You cock your head to the side with a sympathetic look.

“Hey. It’s all going to work out fine alright? You don’t have to tell him yet. We can figure it out. I’ll help you.”

Nancy sniffles and dabs at her teary eyes. She nods. 

You both wait for the test results after a few minutes. You try to make her feel better with some small talk but you can tell the results weigh heavily on her mind. You grab the stick when enough time has passed, eager to make her feel better until you take a look at it.

“See? Nothing to be worried about.” You reassure her, waving the stick a few inches away from her face.

Nancy does a double-take. Her mouth formed an “O”. 

“What?” Your grin falls. “Two lines means not pregnant right?” 

She stands quickly, balancing herself on the edge of the sink. “Two lines is….pregnant.”

Your heart drops. 

“Please say you’re joking.”

“No, it says it right here, look.” She hands you the paper from the box and on it clear as day, two lines equal pregnant.

You drop the stick onto the sink and start to hyperventilate. Nancy abandons the paper and wraps an arm around you.

“Are you? Are you - pregnant too?”

“No! No, I can’t be. I - I haven’t had sex since like Halloween week!”

Nancy gives you a knowing look. Your face falls. 

“I’m not even old enough to be pregnant!” You exclaim.

“What?” 

“Nothing, brain fart.” 

You rush out the bathroom door and downstairs to the kitchen where she keeps the home phone. You dial Robin’s number as fast as you can and tap your feet impatiently as you hear the line trilling.

“Come on, pick up.” You whisper.

Nancy rushes downstairs to stand in the doorway, clutching the manual and listening.

“Hello?” Robin’s voice alleviates some of your panic.

“Hold on I’m putting you on speaker.” You say, letting Nancy get a better listen.

“What? What’s going on? Did Steve apologize yet?”

You exhale shakily. “No, no he didn’t, I - um, I have something to tell you.”

You can hear Robin set down whatever she was holding as you capture her full attention. “What is it? You’re scaring me.”

“There’s no easy way to say this….but…I think, I’m pregnant.”

“You’re what?! Shut up!” Robin screeches. “Kali! Get in here!”

“What happened?” You hear Kali’s voice a split second later.

“Say what you just said again!” Robin commands.

“Kali, I think I’m pregnant.”

“You’re what?!?!” She gasps.

“I know!” You clap your hands over your face in shame and silently scream into them.

“Oh my god, what have you done? To like - the world?!” Robin cuts in. 

“Robin…” Kali scolds.

“I’m sorry!”

“Oh god, what do I do?” You question the speakerphone.

“That kid is going to come out with a full head of hair and try to flirt with the nurse the second it’s born.” Robin bursts into a fit of laughter. 

“Not funny, Robin!” You glare at the phone, trying to remain calm.

“Well, now you have to tell him!” Kali says.

“No, I don’t! You saw how well things went over a coffee machine, imagine a kid!” 

“You have to! What if this is what he needs to stop acting like a kid?” Robin tries to reason. “He was always good with kids in high school and part of the reason is that those were his only friends!”

You cringe, remembering those stories. 

“If losing his best friend wasn’t enough for him to stop acting like an idiot, what makes you think throwing a kid into the mix would?”

“I dunno. But Kali’s right. You have to tell him. Otherwise what happens when you start showing and the worst thing he can think is you’re getting fat?”

You scoff. 

“Maybe they’re right,” Nancy chimes in. “I mean, how long are you going to go without talking to him? You have to make up at some point.” 

You groan in frustration, raking your hands through your hair. 

“I really hate that I consider you guys my moral compass. I truly do.” 

Having responsible friends really was a pain sometimes. 

The phone line rings and blares red as another call was coming through. 

“That must be Jonathan.” Nancy guesses.

“Robin hold on, Jonathan might be on the line.” 

“Oh good, I want to know what he thinks of all this.”

Nancy puts Robin on hold and picks up the phone from the receiver. 

“Hello? Hold on, hold on, what’s going on?” 

You can hear whoever’s calling speaking fast. 

“No, she’s not here.” She lies.

You take a break from your panic attack to try and listen to the frantic voice on the other end. It’s all too fast for you to understand.

“You’re where? Slow down!” Nancy asks, glancing at you now and pointing to the phone. 

“It’s Steve.” She mouths.

You freeze. 

“Okay! Okay! I’ll let her know if I see her.” She hangs up and presses the button to get Robin back.

“What’s the sitch?” 

“He said something about a dog.” 

“Mickey?” Your voice grows concerned. 

“I guess? He just said that something was wrong and he went to take him to the animal hospital.”

Your stomach dropped to your ass. You rushed over to the front door and put on your shoes as fast as you could. 

“Did he say which one?” You ask, borrowing one of Jonathan’s coats. There was no way you were going out there in just sweats and a henley. 

“Ummm I don’t know, I think the one on West and 61st street.” 

“That’s where I work!” You exclaim. “You don’t have a car?”

Nancy shakes her head. “Jonathan’s the one who drives.”

“What about you Robin?” 

“No can do, me and Kali have a meeting but keep me posted! Good luck!”

“Screw it I’ll take a cab.” You say goodbye to Nancy and rush out the door and brave the cold. 

You whistle down a cab and hop in. “Murray’s Animal Hospital, please. And step on it!”

“Wait, (Y/N)? Is that you?” A familiar voice asks you.

The driver turns around, revealing himself to be…..speak of the devil, Danny. 

“Danny? Oh for fuck’s sake.” You sigh and rub at your temples.

“Hey!” He says in a lighthearted tone. “Long time no see.”

“Danny, I will literally pay you extra to shut up and drive like hell alright?” 

Danny does as he’s told and hauls ass. You grab a hold of the bar on top of your head for each swerve and crazed turn he does that earns him a honk of the horn from other cars and nearly sends you flying out of your seat.

Two messy car ride minutes later and you rush out of the taxi as soon as he parks outside the entrance to the animal hospital. 

“Hey!”

“Give me a minute!” You flip him off and ignore him as you try not to think of the worst-case scenario happening with Mickey.

You must look like a lunatic to the girl sitting at your desk with wild hair and an overall messy appearance. You try your best to fix yourself up.

“Where is he? Where’s Mickey?” You ask frantically.

“Who?” Your replacement sitting at your desk asks.

“A black dog! He came in with someone, big hair? Big head?”

She gets the gist and points to the right and down the hallway. You take deep breaths as you will yourself to put on a brave face. 

Steve’s sitting on a chair with his face in his hands. He looks up when he hears the patterning of your footsteps against the sheet vinyl flooring. He gets up quickly, nearly knocking the chair over.

“H-Hey.” He says nervously, hand on his arm. 

_ Come on, you can do this. You can do this. _

“Hey.” You breathe. 

He’s taking you in from top to bottom. It’s the first time he’s seen you since Halloween night. 

“I missed you.”

“What happened?” 

You both say in unison. 

Your mouth falls agape as you take in his confession. Fortunately, he pretends like your question took more priority. 

“I don’t know. One second my stepbrothers are playing with him, the next he’s choking on some toy they brought.”

“What was so important that you couldn’t keep an eye on him? I knew it. I knew I should’ve come back for him.” 

_ You didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh but the situation was starting to make you realize something. Say you did have this kid, would it even survive for a month?  _

“My dad came to visit.” He stares down at the tips of his shoes, shoving his hands into his pockets. The same way he did last time you saw him. 

“Oh.” You let out. Well, this changes things.

“What did he want?” You can’t help but be curious. 

“He wanted to fix things.”

“Did it work?”

He shrugs. “Having that talk with him, it made me realize something.”

Your breath gets caught in your throat. “What is it?”

“Hey, you coming or not? The meter’s running.” Danny’s voice comes to interrupt a peaceful conversation.

“Danny.” Steve acknowledges.

“Hey,” Danny replies, eyeing him. “Stan, right?”

“It’s actually Steve.” He corrects.

Danny laughs it off. “Okay man.”

You squeeze your eyes shut as you know this situation just took a turn. You grab a handful of bills from your pocket and shove them into his chest. 

“Fuck off.” You command.

Danny takes his wad of money and leaves. 

Things fall silent again as Steve clears his throat. 

“So….Danny huh?”

“Oh shut up, I needed a ride. I didn’t know he was the one driving the damn cab.” 

“Does he know about me?” 

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I figure the whole sleeping with my sister thing cancels out if he sees me with someone else.”

Steve nods, confused. 

Beat.

“Can I...can I tell you something?” Steve asks, getting closer and closer to you.

“Please don’t make a big speech.”

“It’s not a big speech. It’s a medium - medium speech.”

“Okay….”

“You were right. You were completely and totally right about me. I am an asshole. And you were right about these weddings. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I would get in my head about all these things that the perfect person should or shouldn’t be. And I’ve been thinking. A lot. Being alone in that apartment made me realize something.” 

“That you’re lonely and afraid of commitment?” 

He chuckles. “No. You’re not there to insult me or make fun of me when I come home from work. You’re not there to tell me how much of an idiot I look in the groomsmen photos or how my speech was shitty. You’re not even there with me and Mickey.”

He’s starting to tear up, his eyes get blurry and watery and he has to wipe discreetly at them. It was time to confront his demons and make it up to you. Being alone was just a taste of what would become of him if he didn’t swallow his pride.

“And I know the only reason you’re not there is because I hurt you. I hurt the one person who never deserved it. And I pushed you away because I’m stupid and I’m selfish and fuck me for being too late but I love you! I love you.”

You felt your lip quivering with each little detail he added about his epiphany. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the declaration of love.

“Y-You love me?” Your voice cracks.

“Of course.” He breathes out, hands reaching for yours to take reassuringly. 

“Steve...I really….I have to tell you something.”

“Please don’t say you and Danny are back together.” 

“No...no it’s not that,” you try to work up the courage to tell him. “I’m....I think - I’m pregnant.”

Steve steps back for a moment. He feels the shock settle in. He lets out a surprised gasp as he takes both his hands and folds them behind his head. 

“You’re what?”


	9. Lover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Steve make up. Steve plans for the future ahead.

He paced back and forth in the hallway of the animal clinic, somehow both muttering to himself and racking his head for some way to reply other than the incredulous reaction he just gave you.

You squeezed your eyes shut and shook your head. You knew it, you knew it was too soon to say. 

You cross your legs in an attempt to stop the distracting bouncing of your leg and ease your nerves. 

Sure he just confessed he loved you and apologized, but now that you could possibly be pregnant? What if that was the dealbreaker?

“Steve.” You call, attempting to break him from his trance.

He mutters more, going much too fast for you to understand. 

“Steve!” You exclaim, unable to take the suspense.

He stops and turns to face you, visibly shaken. You exhale shakily, trying to keep yourself steady emotionally.

“Listen, if what you said earlier is true, then this is nothing.”

“This is nothing? (Y/N) we’re bringing someone else into our messed up lives. What if we’re terrible parents?”

You stand and take his worrisome hand in yours, “So we don’t have the best model. That’s fine! They’re not the ones raising this kid, it’s us. It’s you and me.” 

He bites his lip in thought, eyes falling to his feet. You felt your heart race as you tried to decipher his emotions. You loved Steve, kid or no kid. But this was something you two needed to face. 

“I don’t know. I - ” he shrugs. 

You try not to remember the last time he shrugged and what followed. 

“You and I don’t need to make a decision so quickly. We can sleep on it. Alright?” You try to be comforting, smoothing out the lines on his disheveled shirt.

He seems to relax at this and nods. You nod in conclusion.

“I’ll be back.” He says, letting go of your hands and walking down the dimly lit corridor. 

“Where are you going?” 

He won’t leave you, right? 

“I have to do something. I’ll see you back home.” 

He leaves in a rush. It hit you then. Home. You were dreading returning to the apartment all this time because you were afraid of the confrontation. 

You had planned on coming back sure, maybe yell at him or take Mickey as you’d promised, but the thought of having to confront his issues and your own made your stomach do somersaults. And not in the good way. 

But it seemed to turn out fine. You sighed. 

You and Steve barely got by as it is. Robin’s leave put more strain on both of you to come up with rent money. Neither you nor Steve were too content in your career choices, and God knows the place would get cramped with a kid. 

It was hard to be an optimist in these trying times but you tried to hold out hope. Maybe things would get better. After all, you had new friends, you’d made new connections. Who knows where that would take you. 

You wondered what your sister would say. For once, you valued her input in this. 

Honestly, the thought of the future from this point on made your heart race. 

Steve was capable of growth…..right?

* * *

Once Mickey was cleared to go home, you let out a breath of relief you didn’t realize you were holding. Things felt a lot lighter, it was a weight off of your shoulders. Though a tiny pebble by the name of Steve remained. 

You carried your dozed pet out in your arms in the early hours of the morning, choosing to walk it home and avoid another Danny encounter. 

It was a chilly week in November. The crunch of the leaves under your feet wasn’t enough to rouse Mickey awake but you kept count of how many you stepped on.

You don’t recall how long it took you to get home. It was most likely the autopilot in you flipping on, your head just too worried about other things at the moment. 

You just know you’d made it home without a scratch. You kick away the pile of mail at the foot of your doorstep and take the extra key under the mat. Once you’re inside, the warmth of the radiator kicks in, letting your body relax after the tensing up of your muscles to keep warm outside. 

You lay Mickey down in his makeshift bed, the foot tub with a mix of yours and Steve’s old shirts. He grumbles in his sleep, his tiny tongue peaking out in lazy and unconscious movement. 

You shake off Jonathan’s coat and drape it over your body like a blanket and collapse onto the couch, too lazy to curl up into your own bed. 

You shiver as you run your hands over your arms and cup your hands together to blow air into them. The tiredness from walking and overall excitement of the day weighed over you from the way you felt your eyelids start to fall. 

You blink once, twice, and then fall asleep just in time to see Mickey kick and stretch his paws in his sleep.

* * *

Steve pants as he reaches the door of the room at the hotel his father’s staying at. He’d been too hasty to berate his future stepbrothers once he saw what they’d done to Mickey. 

He knocks rapidly on the door, seeming like a madman to the couple who’s just leaving their own room and staring at him. He composes himself, zips his jacket up, and gives a faint nod as they pass him.

His dad opens the door a second later. “Hey kiddo, what’s with the commotion?”

“She’s pregnant.” Steve regurgitates your confession to his father. Don’s mouth falls open slightly. 

He closes it and stammers. He turns to check on the kids in the room, seeing them preoccupied with the tv. When the coast is clear, he closes the door behind him and stays with Steve outside in the hallway. 

“I - that was fast.” Don chuckles, feeling flustered for his son. “What did you tell her?”

“I ran here to tell you!” 

Don’s hand comes up to pinch the bridge of his nose in disappointment.

“So you’re telling me, the girl of your dreams, the one you’ve been miserable over breaking her heart, just told you she’s pregnant and the first thing you do is leave her and run to me??” 

Steve understands the gravity of the situation but he is stuck on the thought that he needed all the advice he could squeeze out of his father.

“Basically.” He says simply.

Don sighs. “What’s the problem, then?”

Steve’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know how to be a dad. In case you haven’t noticed I didn’t have the best model.”

Don nearly rolls his eyes. 

“Is that really the reason, or is there another?”

Steve stays silent, contemplating while his eyes scan every inch of the hallway from the detail on the carpeting to the colors. 

“I guess….I’m not happy with where I am right now. I’m pushing thirty in two years, I’m a bartender, everyone I know got married and I just feel like I’m out of time. But Dad, this girl. She - she’s everything I’m not. She’s spontaneous and funny and sarcastic and - I don’t know, sometimes I just feel like she could be doing so much better than me.”

Don places a hand on Steve’s shoulder and gently shakes him. “Hey, don’t say that. You’re a Harrington, you’re a catch!” 

Steve half grins at the encouragement. 

“Steve, everyone progresses through milestones differently. No one knows what they’re doing. And if we’re being honest, I think you just have to find what you like and hold onto it. Something that makes you want to get out of bed every day and just take all of the bull that life throws at you because, at the end of the day, that something is always going to be there. Have you found something to do that for you?”

Steve nearly dissociates altogether as he falls deep in thought as his father speaks. His mind reeling the montage of memories his brain concocts like film. 

He sees you the day you walked into the apartment and into his life, covered in dirty water from being sprayed by a taxi on the curb and taking it in stride and making jokes about it. He sees you dancing in the kitchen to god awful music he’d grown to love in a big shirt and long socks, Tom Cruise style. He sees the way your eyes crinkle when you laugh hysterically at the prospect of trying to help him find dates. The image of you sitting near the radiator with a book in hand and your thinking face. 

He thinks these past few months might’ve just been the best ones he’s ever had. Before he went and ruined it. 

He didn’t think he would experience something like this after Nancy. He thought he could just run away from Hawkins and leave the bad memories there, but they crept up on him when he least expected it. His fear was not your fault. 

He was done running and he was ready to grow. 

“Yeah,” he nods. “I think I do.”

* * *

The phone ringing off the hook startled you awake. You sit upright, finding Jonathan’s coat at your feet and Mickey pawing at the phone cord. He wriggles his head side to side when he finally gets the cord in between his teeth. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” You mutter to yourself. You pick Mickey up with swift ease and pull the cord out of his mouth to pick up the phone.

“I’m up.” You announce somewhat sleepily into the phone.

“Good! I have news!” Nancy’s rapid-fire voice comes through and alerts you awake.

“Wait! I did it, Nance! I told him!”

“Oh, what did he say?”

“He….kind of took off.”

“He what?!” 

“Okay to be fair, a lot has happened in the past,” you glance at your wrist to see you’ve been asleep for a while. “Five hours? Geez.” 

“Okay, okay. Well, we don’t have to worry about this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“The tests! They’re faulty! They’re recalling them for false positives or something. I don’t know but Kali just called to tell me.”

“Oh….” You trail off. 

In a way, you're very relieved. And yet also a little disappointed. But very relieved.

“What’s wrong?” Nancy senses something’s off. “I figured you’d breathe a little better if you knew the truth.”

“No I am,” you say, cradling Mickey in your arm like a mom with a baby on her hip. “I don’t know, I guess I kind of made my peace with it.”

“Oh, well hey, maybe it’s a good conversation starter for both of you.”

You lean against the wall where the phone hangs, letting your furry son sit on the counter. “Yeah maybe. I mean, it was all too fast anyways.”

“Yeah! You have lots of time. Just take baby steps. I think slow and steady would put yours and his mind at ease.”

You had to agree. Time had to heal all wounds. You two had to start again, without interruptions. 

You finish talking to Nancy, reassuring her that you’d need to get over the first wave of shock and tell him when he turned up. She offered to go over but you’d declined. When everything’s over, you collapse onto the couch again, slumping as far as your back would let you. Your stomach protruding a little from under your tee. You roll up the lower half of your shirt and let it sit above your belly button. 

You prod your fingers at nothing, feeling odd and a little bit silly at the thought that there would be a little person in there. 

Mickey whimpers. 

“Looks like you’re the baby still.” You chuckle, scratching behind his ears.

The peace and silence are broken by the door swinging open to reveal an out of breath Steve. You straighten up immediately and pull your shirt down. 

“Are you okay?” You ask, making a pass to reach for him but he sticks a hand out for you to wait as he regains his composure. 

“I’m….fine…..just have to….talk...holdonaminute.”

He’s visibly sweating, beads of sweat on his forehead. He looks like he just ran track. His pants come to a slow until he’s back to normal. He puts his hands on his knees and it takes everything in you to not make an old joke for the sake of the seriousness of the situation.

He stands up straight, keeping his eyes trained on you, and with a softness in them, you feel at ease.

“I quit my job.” He says finally.

Your eyes widen. “You what?”

The confession hung in the air, settling in like the warmth of the radiator. He rushes to you and kneels before you can leap up off the couch and takes your hands in his. 

“Hear me out. Before you get mad, just hear me out.”

“Okay.” 

“I’ve done a lot and I mean a lot of reassessment about you, me, everything. If we’re going to do this, I want them to be proud of me. I want to be there for them as much as I can be. I’m starting over. At 28.” 

You stifle a laugh but release it when Steve takes the initiative to laugh at himself. 

“So….what are you going to be doing now?” You give his hands a squeeze, utterly terrified at the plunge he’s taking.

He looks as if he hasn’t planned that far ahead besides quitting. “I….don't know. But it’s, um, kind of cool. I get to see a bunch of different jobs. Find out what I really like.” 

“And, what’s that?”

“You.” He smiles, the sight of it sending butterflies free in your stomach. “I like you. So, so much. You’re not hard to get at all, you’re hard to earn. I’d take that over any messy, drunk bridesmaid.”

You tilt your head, feeling the corners of your lips lifting and before you know it, you’re grinning like an idiot.

“And that’s why,” he says, his right hand leaving yours and digging into his pocket to bring out a plastic ring from the bubble gum machines in the laundromat downstairs, “I’m jumping in, all the way.”

“Steve…” You’re nearly speechless. “What are you doing?”

“I know it’s not perfect or big or shiny. But this is just a placeholder for now. I’m all in if you are.” He holds the ring with the pink gem in his fingers, waiting for you.

Maybe it’s the fact that ever since you started to see him in a different light since the start of the year, you’d determined that you’d follow him anywhere. Whether he’d have you or not. Even with his moods and awkwardness and clumsiness. He’d been scored on your heart. You’d marry him with paper rings.

“I’m not pregnant.” You reveal.

His face softens. “What?”

“Nancy called earlier before you came. The tests were faulty. I just wanted you to know that so that wasn’t the only reason you decided to do this.”

It was and wasn’t the reason. But in all honesty, he didn’t think he could bear to stomach the idea of not being with you or the image of you with someone else. He also doesn’t think starting over with someone else was the best idea, you two had been through so much in two years. You shared a particular connection. One that he now realizes he had been looking through seas of beige and silvers and golds. 

“It’s not,” he titters, “I don’t care that we don’t have the meet-cutes or the chance run-ins. That’s not what love really is. I thought it was more complex but it’s so - simple. It’s about being comfortable with someone and wanting to hang out with them as long as it’s humanly possible….and just not trying to mess it up the way I did.”

Your heart swells. This is love for him. This is him planting his foot in the sand and not running away when the sea rushes for him. Anyone else would’ve ditched him the moment things got ugly. But you were nothing if devoted.

“Yes, Dingus. I’m in too.” You nod, overjoyed as you feel your eyes get watery. 

* * *

_Don & Mary’s Wedding _

_December 25, 1994_

_Hawkins, Indiana_

“Okay, okay, how does this look?” Steve asks, fixing his tux for the fifth time that day. 

You roll your eyes. “You look fine babe, honestly. We’ve ironed the jacket out twice. Any more and I think you’re going to set it on fire and then you’ll upstage the bride.”

Steve snorts, fixing the knot on his tie. “I’m sorry. I’m just so nervous. I can’t mess up the speech.”

You fix the starchy collar of his shirt. “I’ve heard it many times and I think you’ll do great. Just don’t think too much about it.”

“You don’t think it’s too late to back out?” 

“I think,” You pull him by his tie close to your face to tease him. “If you can get through this, you can either have the best after-party experience or you can get the new fridge.”

Steve purses his lips, conflicted. “We do need a new fridge.”

You playfully smack his arm as you feign offense. 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He repeats, enveloping you in a hug. 

“Whoa, whoa, easy on the goods.” You say, smoothing out the easily crinkled fabric of your dress. 

“I’m always easy on them.” He jests, slipping in innuendo that you still find yourself blushing to.

“Alright, alright. Let’s go before they start guessing why we’re late.” 

You climb onto his back and ride him piggyback all the way to the elevator. He goes over his speech one more time as you descend and tries to tell a joke at the end that doesn’t stick the landing. 

You arrive just in time, settling at the table next to the newlyweds. You pat Steve on the shoulder, give him a glass, and wish him good luck. “Go get ‘em.” 

He kisses you tenderly before he goes up on stage, feeling like a teen again the way his senses goes crazy when he kisses you. He fumbles his way up the stairs to the microphone making you stifle a laugh. He composes himself a second later.

“Hey everyone! Thanks for coming. I’m Steve. Most of you know me as Don’s son. And if you’re wondering why I’m up here giving his best man speech, so am I.”

The crowd of family and friends laughs in unison. 

Steve fixes his footing and his grip on the champagne glass tightens. 

“The truth is, I put up a pretty big stink about all of this. I didn’t want to do it. To me, a second marriage was ill-advised. I mean, my parents’ divorce was pretty hard to swallow. But also, I just didn’t get it. I believed in things like fate and love at first sight, that once you found the one, that was the ballgame.”

He scans the crowd, passing familiar faces like Jonathan and Nancy, Dustin and Suzie, Robin and Kali, each one helping take the pressure off just a bit. He stops when he lands on you, your warm smile and thumbs up making him feel better.

“But the truth is, if you spend your whole life looking for something perfect, you wind up with nothing. See, there are many innings in this ball game and I don’t think it's about good timing or fate. It’s about trying not to mess up.”

He locks eyes with you for the last part.

“But you will mess up. No matter how hard you try, you’ll get in your own head. But if you can learn from your mistakes, you might just end up with something...even better.”

You mouth “Thank you”. He feels flustered for a second but focuses.

“I’d like to raise a glass,” He says, raising his cup along with everyone else. “Dad, Mary, congratulations.”

The guests applaud as Don is overcome with emotion and wipes at his happy tears and takes his son in a bear hug. Steve is taken aback by the sudden strength of his father and nearly drops his glass.

The party goes off without a hitch, Steve actually partakes in the festivities with pride and even makes an attempt to get to know his stepbrothers. Jonathan and Nancy, Robin and Kali, Dustin and Suzie all congratulate Steve when they find out what the pink stone on your finger means. You meet Steve’s mom for the first time, a charming and lovely woman who is eager to show you loose baby pictures in her clutch and embarrassing stories.

You wait on the sidelines as the new Harrington family take their family photos. Mary and Steve talk in what seems to be a sincere and sweet conversation. 

“Hey,” Jonathan asks from behind the camera. “Why aren’t you in there?”

You open your mouth to justify it until Don speaks up.

“He’s right! What are you doing there? Come in! Come in!” He waves you over with encouragement until the entire Harrington gang begins to beg for you to come in.

“Come in sweetie!” Mary cheers.

You’re about to make your way until Steve leaves the group and carries you over his shoulder. Jonathan smirks as he takes multiple photos, taking advantage of the candid moment. The Harringtons make a mixture of sounds and cheers as Steve puts you down and wraps his arms around you in a prom pose. You go with it, feeling like you belonged in this puzzle with other people.

He kisses the top of your head and gives you a squeeze. 

For the first time in his life, Steve’s not afraid of the future. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *when did your heart go missing begins* in all honesty, if you’ve made it this far and haven’t left due to my cringey writing, thank you and I love you!!


End file.
